


MSA + 1: Before

by KHGiggle



Series: Mystery Skulls Animated + 1 [3]
Category: Grrl Power (Webcomic), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Cult background, Don't know a lot about adoption so I hope this is Accurate, Found Family, It's just the Peppers, It's no one you're familiar with, Lewis was a sweet kid, brief mention of child abuse, someone gets killed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-03-07 20:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 31,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18881068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KHGiggle/pseuds/KHGiggle
Summary: Various events from the MSA + 1 au leading up to The Cave





	1. The Surprise Pepper

**Author's Note:**

> How Lewis became a Pepper.
> 
> I'm just guessing at Mr. and Mrs. Peppers names.

Lewis’ first memory was following a dead man down a street. He didn’t know how he knew the man was dead. He just knew, but he also knew that the dead man wasn’t dangerous. It was incredibly confusing to his young mind.

The dead man took him over to a house porch. “This is a good family. They’ll help you.”

“Okay…?”

The dead man left. Lewis watched him leave, suddenly feeling scared. He had no idea who that was, but he had been the only person Lewis had known in his very brief life. What was Lewis supposed to do now?

Lewis decided he was tired and curled up on the welcome mat to go to sleep.

Several hours later, Mr. Friggitello ‘Frigg’ Pepper opened the door to get the morning paper and nearly tripped over Lewis. He stared, mouth open in shock for several moments. “Savina?”

“Hm?”

“There is a child sleeping on our welcome mat.”

“What?” Mrs. Savina Pepper walked over to the front door and got a good look at Lewis. “…Is that blood?”

“Urm…” Frigg took a closer look. “I, uh, I think it is.” He swallowed. “Why does he have blood on his clothes?”

“Let’s ask him.” Savina knelt down and shook the boy. “Hey, wake up, you can’t be comfortable.”

Lewis made a sound that indicated that he didn’t want to wake up, but he did open his eyes after Mrs. Pepper shook him for a couple of moments. He blinked up at the Peppers with sleepy eyes. “Good morning?”

“Good morning,” greeted Savina. “Who are you and why are you sleeping on our doormat?”

“I’m Lewis. It’s softer than the wood,” said Lewis as that made perfect sense to him.

“It’s nice to meet you Lewis,” said Frigg. “I’m Frigg, and this is Savina.”

“Were you separated from your parents?” asked Savina as she looked around for anyone who might look like Lewis.

Lewis thought. He had parents. He wasn’t sure where they were…or who they were. He decided to settle for a shrug.

“Should we call the police?” asked Frigg.

A jolt of fear shot through Lewis. “Did I do something wrong?”

Frigg shook his head. “No, no, no! I just…You’re in trouble, and police help people who are in trouble.” He looked to Savina. “But I guess maybe we don’t have to?”

Savina made a considering sound. “Maybe if we can find Lewis’ parents ourselves. What’s your last name?”

“I don’t know,” Lewis said slowly. That struck him as being rather odd.

Mr. and Mrs. Pepper frowned. “Where did this blood come from?” asked Frigg. “You don’t seem to be injured.”

Lewis looked own at his clothes in surprise. He’d honestly forgotten about the blood. “I don’t hurt…”

“I’d still like to take you to the hospital. Or at least a clinic,” said Frigg.

Savina suddenly thought of something. “Lewis, why did you decide to rest at our hourse?”

Lewis tilted his head. “Huh?”

“There’s a cemetery behind our house. The nearby church seems more preferable,” explained Savina.

Lewis lit up. “Oh, is that where the nice dead man came from?”

Mr. and Mrs. Pepper stared. “Nice dead man?”

Lewis nodded. “Yeah. He brought me here. He said you were nice.”

While Mr. and Mrs. Pepper were rational adults and initially thought that Lewis might have imagined ‘the nice dead man’, they’d seen enough weird stuff in their house to consider that there really had been a dead man, especially since Lewis didn’t seem bothered by the idea.

Then again he was still pretty young. Maybe he didn’t completely understand what death meant.

“I’ll call the restaurant and let them know we’re taking the day off,” decided Savina. “I’ll grab something for Lewis to eat too.”

Lewis’ stomach growled at the promise of food. Frigg chuckled a bit as Savina walked back inside their home. “I hope you like spicy food. There’s not a lot in our house that isn’t.”

“I’m too hungry to care,” Lewis said.

“I can believe that,” said Frigg. He studied Lewis for a moment. “Hey, how old would you say you are?”

Lewis thought for a moment before shrugging.

Frigg sighed. “Don’t know that either, huh? What do you remember?”

“Um…The nice dead man brought me here.”

“And?”

“And, uh, the nice dead man brought me here,” repeated Lewis, looking very confused.

Oh, this was starting to look bad. “Do you know where you’re from?” Lewis shook his head. “Do you have any pets?” A shrug. “Brothers or sisters?” A shrug. “Where you got these clothes?”

Lewis glanced down as his simple green t-shirt and pants. Nothing special besides the blood on them. He shrugged again.

Frigg bit his lip. Did Lewis have amnesia? Before he could try and figure out a way to tell, Savina returned with a plate of toast that she’d put some jam on. “Here you go.”

Lewis lit up. “Thank you!” he immediately dug in.

Savina turned to Frigg. “I called the restaurant to let them know we probably won’t be coming in today. Let’s get Lewis to the hospital.”

“All right.” Frigg wasn’t sure he should tell Savina about Lewis’ possible amnesia in front of Lewis. Lewis was calm now, and Frigg wanted him to stay that way as long as possible.

It took around 15 minutes to get to the hospital. Lewis had finished his toast by then, so they wiped off some of the jam with a towel so he wouldn’t be too sticky when they went in. The emergency department had a few other people present, but the counter was free when they got up to it. “Ah, hello?”

The nurse on duty looked up with a tired smile. “Yes? I can help you?”

“My wife and I found this boy,” explained Frigg as Savina picked up Lewis and put him on her hip. “He says his name is Lewis. He doesn’t know who his parents are.”

That got a startled look from Savina and a concerned look from the nurse. “I see. Uh, Lewis, are you hurt?” She’d noticed the blood by then.

Lewis shook his head. “Nope.”

“Do you know any adults I can contact?” asked the nurse. Lewis shook his head. “If that’s the case, I’ll have to contact child services and the police.”

“We understand,” said Savina. “Do we wait or is there an open bay?”

“Well, we’re a bit short-staffed, and Lewis doesn’t seem to be in any danger, so I’ll have to ask you to wait.”

So the three sat in a group of chairs not too far from the counter. Lewis occasionally saw people in hospital gowns walking out of the doors. No one else seemed to notice them, much to his confusion.

After a little while, a man in a police uniform came in. His eyes swept across the room before landing on the Peppers. He made his way over to them. “Hello, I got a call about a missing child being found.”

“Is he missing?” asked Frigg.

“Well, I haven’t heard of any missing children matching Lewis’ description, but if you found him he must have been missing at some point,” reasoned the officer, who clearly had some odd logic going on.

Frigg sweatdropped. “Uh, I see…”

The officer took out a notebook. “So, would you mind telling me the events leading up to your trip to the hospital?”

The story was told mostly by Mr. and Mrs. Pepper with occasional input from Lewis. Unfortunately, this meant he mentioned the nice dead man. Fortunately, the officer seemed to think this was a living person and asked Lewis to describe him up until Lewis mentioned that part of his neck was missing. Then he figured this was someone Lewis saw die or something along those lines.

“Excuse me, but what is going to happen to Lewis?” asked Frigg.

The officer closed his notebook. “Lewis will be taken into the care of child services until his legal guardians are found. If they cannot be found, I suppose he’ll be placed in a foster family, maybe adopted.”

“Can’t I stay with Mr. Frigg and Mrs. Savina?” asked Lewis. “They’re nice, and I like them!”

“You’ll have to ask the child services representative. They’ll know more about that than I do.” The officer frowned. “Actually, I’m surprised they haven’t shown up yet. I wonder if they’re having a busy day. And these two will have to be okay with it of course.”

Lewis turned and looked at the Peppers with big, hopeful eyes. It reminded Frigg of the time he found a box of abandoned kittens that he took in even though he was allergic. Savina simply had bad experiences with the foster system. “We have room. He could stay,” she said.

“Ye-yeah! I know this isn’t exactly how we were planning on having kids, but this feels…important? Special? I just feel like this was meant to be and we should do this,” agreed Frigg.

“Well, that would depend on us not finding Lewis’ family,” said the officer. “You seem like a nice couple though. Oh, hey, I think that’s the child services officer.”

The person he was talking about was a tired looking, middle-aged woman. She caught sight of them and hurried over, putting on a smile. “Hello there. I’m sorry I took so long. There was an…incident that I had to take care of.” She knelt down so she was at the same level as Lewis. “Hello Lewis. I’m Catherine. How are you today?”

“Hungry,” Lewis answered promptly. “I ate all the toast.”

“I see. Maybe we can go get you something to eat once the doctors have looked you over,” suggested Catherine. “But can you tell me where your parents are first?”

“I don’t know,” said Lewis, starting to get annoyed at how the grown ups were asking him questions he just didn’t know the answer to. “I don’t know who they are.”

“I see. I’m sorry. Can you tell me who you were staying with?”

“I don’t know.”

The police officer cleared his throat. “Lewis may have some sort of amnesia,” he whispered.

Catherine winced. “Oh dear. Well, what can you tell me about yourself?”

“My name is Lewis. I like Mr. Frigg and Mrs. Savina! And toast with jam!” Lewis tried to think of something else to say.

“Can you tell me how old you are?” prodded Catherine.

“No.” Lewis wasn’t trying to be difficult, but he was certainly making it difficult.

“Peppers?” called a nurse.

They moved to a hospital bay where a doctor started taking some vitals. “A bit dehydrated, but I don’t think we need to put him on an IV,” said the doctor. “Maybe get him some juice.” The doctor started feeling around Lewis’ head.

“Ow!”

“Looks like you’ve got a pretty bad bump on your head.”

“Is that why he’s having trouble remembering things?” asked Frigg.

“Probably not. Amnesia caused by head injuries is pretty rare, at least to this extent. It’s much more likely to be psychological,” explained the doctor. “He might remember. He might not. You might have results if he sees a child psychologist. However, all in all, I’d say he’s a healthy boy. I can’t say for sure how old Lewis is, but I’d say his development would be in the range of 5-6 years old.” He paused. “I’d say 6 given your size.”

“Oh…” Lewis made a note. It felt a bit better to know how old he was.

“There are no signs of abuse?” asked Catherine.

The doctor shook his head. “No, his parents took care of him, whoever they are.”

Lewis suddenly wondered who his Mom and Dad were.

“Now, I understand you two were interested in looking after Lewis?” Mr. and Mrs. Pepper nodded. “That’s excellent! But as we may be able to locate his parents, you won’t be able to adopt him at first. Also, I will have to do a house check, and I’ll need to know who will be taking care of Lewis while you’re at work.”

“I think we can hire a babysitter until Lewis can go to school. Then we can take turns taking weekends off to stay with him,” suggested Frigg.

Savina nodded. “It might require hiring another chef or sous chef, but I think it could work. Perhaps if he makes some friends at school, he can spend time with them.”

“I wanna make friends!” agreed Lewis.

Catherine nodded. “Good, good. I’ll check on you three weekly for the first month, and after that we can stick to monthly visits until an adoption is possible.”

As the small group started to walk out of the hospital, Lewis happily grabbed Mr. and Mrs. Pepper’s hands. Despite only knowing them for a few hours, Lewis felt safe and happy around them.

Lewis hoped he’d be able to stay with them.


	2. How Lewis Met Sydney

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis' class gets a new classmate. Lewis gets a friend.

Starting school in the middle of the year was rough. Kids have already made friends and formed groups for the most part. It’s not impossible to be added to an already formed group, but it can be difficult.

Being an unusually tall kid who has amnesia and showed up literally out of nowhere and talks to seemingly no one tends to alienate a person as Lewis was quick to find out.

It hurt that the other kids thought he was strange or scary. He tried to make the best of it by talking to a janitor ghost who’d stuck around because he felt the school wasn’t kept clean enough. Still, Lewis would like a friend his age.

And then Sydney transferred to their class.

Sydney had had to move suddenly due to her mother being transferred for work. She’d lived in Kansas previously. She wasn’t exactly happy about moving since she’d finally made some friends at her old school. It wasn’t easy to make friends when she was so…weird. Still, she didn’t really have much say, so here she was standing at the front of a new classroom in front of a bunch of kids.

“Everyone, this is Sydney Scoville…Jr?” the teacher stated with a bit of confusion at the last part. She glanced at Sydney. Sydney was wearing pants and a T-shirt with Wolverine on it so she would have been able to pass for a boy if she hadn’t worn a hair bow to prevent that from happening again. It had been awkward enough in kindergarten when three weeks in she found out that everyone, even the teachers, thought she was a boy. This teacher looked like she was trying to figure out if she should ask which Sydney was. “So…why don’t you tell us about yourself?”

“I’m a girl,” said Sydney, just to get that out of the way. “My dad wanted a junior and Sydneys can be boys and girls. I like comics. And cartoons of comics. My dad reads me comics. Sometimes my mom. We need more comic cartoons. I like Beast Wars too! Waspinator talks funny like he’s buzzing at the same time. And he blows up at least once an episode. He must be immortal or something. I like Dinobot too. It’s too bad he died for real. His clone just wasn’t the same. He was creepy. Why did Megatron keep cloning him anyway? It’s not like the original liked him.”

“Uh, Sydney, you’re getting a bit off topic,” noted the teacher, who was already wondering how to handle this child.

“Oh. Sorry. I have really bad ADHD. You’ll probably have to tell me to pay attention a lot.”

“Thank you for telling me that,” said the teacher in a slightly strained voice. “Why don’t you sit in the front?”

“Great! I can never see over any of the other kids,” complained Sydney. She really hated being short.

Sydney had to be told to pay attention two times, had a daydream about the X-Men, and tapped out a tune with her pencil when she was supposed to be doing a worksheet by the time recess came around. She happily started swinging back and forth on the monkey bars for several minutes before running over to some sort of giant spider looking equipment. She didn’t know what it was, but she could work with it.

“Onward my noble steed! We will conquer the mantis men come hell or high water!” Was Sydney attracting the attention of everyone on the playground? Yes. Did she care? No. “Ready the aphids!” If they wanted to join in, she wouldn’t stop them. If they didn’t, oh well.

“You’re weird,” said a boy who was missing a tooth.

“I know,” said Sydney as she tried to figure out what the aphids were even for. Aphids ate grass and plants, but the mantis men wouldn’t be eating that. Maybe it was a crop for their food animals?

“What’s wrong with you?”

And that hurt because Sydney liked how she was, even if it was far from perfect. “What’s wrong with you?” she countered.

The boy bristled. “I’m not the crazy one!”

Sydney stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re a meanie butt!”

The boy’s response was to grab at her shirt and nearly drag her off the spider. “What’d you say?”

Sydney promptly headbutted him in the nose. The boy dropped her to grab at his nose and she immediately tackled him to the ground.

Fortunately, one of the teachers had seen the boy grab her and reached them before Sydney could start punching the boy. “Hey, break it up!” She pulled Sydney off the boy.

“She hit me!” complained the boy, still holding his bleeding nose.

“You’re both going to the office!” said the teacher.

Sydney groaned. The first day and she was already gonna have to see the principal. Just great.

The rest of the kids, Lewis included, just watched the two kids get marched back inside. That was crazy. That girl had just attacked Thomas. Yeah, Thomas was a bully, but still…

 

Sydney got lucky. Thomas, the jerk, had caused problems before, so she got a warning and a call to her parents, but they didn’t have to come to school. They’d probably take away her TV for a week or two, which was really annoying, but she was getting better at reading.

By the time Sydney was allowed to leave the office, it was time for lunch. A secretary showed her the way to the cafeteria and where her class was sitting and left her to it. Sydney looked around. Most of the kids were sitting in groups. A few seats could be open, but kids had placed items on them so they were off limits.

Near the end was Lewis sitting by himself and feeling lonely. He really wanted someone to talk to.

Sydney, having decided this was the weird kids table, sat down across from Lewis. “Hi.”

Lewis’ eyes widened. “H-hi.”

“Is this the weird kids table? This seems like the weird kids table.”

Lewis looked down. He certainly wasn’t normal. “Yeah…”

Sydney nodded. “Good. I’m Sydney. I said that this morning. I probably didn’t need to say it again. What’s your name?”

“Lewis Pepper.”

“Ooh! I love peppers! Especially stuffed with melted cheese!” said Sydney as she started munching on wasabi peas.

“That does sound good,” agreed Lewis. “What are those?”

“Wasabi peas. Want one?” Sydney held one out.

Lewis eyed it carefully and took it. It looked like a pea. He put it in his mouth. “Spicy!”

“Yeah, wasabi is like horseradish but Japanese and green,” explained Sydney. “So, why are you weird?”

Lewis’ eyes widened again. “Um…I, uh, don’t wanna say.”

“Okay,” said Sydney. She went back to eating. “Do you like purple? You’re wearing a lot of purple. My dad says that’s royal stuff. Are you a prince?”

“No,” said Lewis. “My parents are chefs.”

“Are you a chef too?” asked Sydney. “What sort of stuff do you cook?”

“Oh, no, no, I’m too young!” said Lewis.

“That sucks,” muttered Sydney, ignoring the gasp from Lewis. “I’m not allowed to help cook either, but that’s cause I would probably get distracted and set something on fire. I bet you wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t…?”

“Set anything on fire.”

“Oh.” Lewis wasn’t sure if he would or wouldn’t. He wasn’t even sure how to work the stove. “Uh…So what do your parents do?”

“My mom just got promoted. Now she’s a bank manager! My dad does some part time stuff and makes cosplay parts.”

Lewis blinked. “Cos…play?”

“Yeah, costumes, like Halloween, ‘cept it’s whenever,” explained Sydney. “I wanna be Sailor Moon next Halloween. How ‘bout you?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” muttered Lewis. He’d hadn’t figured out what he liked yet.

“You don’t talk a lot,” commented Sydney.

Lewis blushed. “Sorry.”

“Why? There’s nothing wrong with that,” pointed out Sydney. “If you don’t like to talk, then you don’t have to.”

“Okay…” Lewis just didn’t know what to make of Sydney. “You’re really different.”

Sydney nodded. “Yep! I like being different. Normal is boring.”

Lewis frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” She made a vague gesture towards their classmates. “Those kids probably have the same story. They have parents with mostly normal jobs, families, they like playing with other kids. Girls like Princess stuff. Boys like robots. That sort of thing. Not a lot of fun stuff to talk about. Not something you’d remember. You’ll remember me, right?”

“Definitely,” said Lewis.

Sydney nodded, taking a sip of her juice. “And you don’t even know me yet.”

“So, you’re different because you want to be remembered?” questioned Lewis.

Sydney shook her head. “I’m different ‘cause I’m me. If I had to change to make friends, then they’re not real friends.”

Lewis frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’d be sad if I had to act like a normal girl. So if they want me to be normal and sad, then they’re not my friend.”

Lewis had to admit that made a weird sort of sense. “So, it’s better to be alone and happy than sad and with friends?”

“Yeah, but it’s even better to be happy with friends,” said Sydney. “But…friends are a lot harder to find.”

Lewis tensed and glanced towards the other kids. They must have had an easy time making friends with each other when school had started. Lewis had tried, but when he’d talked about the dead people and the cemetery and not being able to remember things…the other children had called him scary.

Lewis didn’t want to be scary.

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over. The kids started to packed up and headed back to class.

 

The next day, Sydney decided not to do her bug war game. Instead, she was climbing all over the jungle gym, pretending she was a monkey. Maybe one of the ones from The Jungle Book. She started humming the song King Louie sang. How did he mistake Baloo for a lady chimp? Is he nearsighted?

“Um…”

Sydney looked from where she was hanging upside down and saw the boy she’d sat with at lunch yesterday. What was his name again? “Lewis!” she shouted, making him jump.

“Uh…”

“Hi! What ‘cha doing?”

“…Can I play with you?”

Sydney brightened. “Sure! I’m a Jungle Book monkey! What do you wanna be?”

Lewis had never seen the Jungle Book. “A puppy?”

“I love puppies! So, what brings you to King Louie’s kingdom?”

“…I got lost.”

“Yeah, this place is weird. Wanna go find Mowgli?”

“Okay?”

“Let’s go!”


	3. Getting to Know You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sydney spends time at Lewis' house. The two make a surprising discovery while playing.

The last two weeks had been pretty good for Sydney and Lewis. They were still somewhat alienated from the rest of the kids, but they had each other, which made school much more tolerable.

They told their parents about their new friend of course. Both sets of parents were glad to hear their child had made a friend, but the parents didn’t actually meet until 17 days after the two children had started spending time with each other.

“Sydney!/Lewis!”

Savina and Sydney Scoville Sr. paused and looked over at each other as their kids ran over. The kids figured out who the adults were pretty quickly. Sydney Jr. obviously got her looks from her father, who looked more or less identical to her minus a noticeably darker skin tone. Obviously, there was little resemblance between Savina and Lewis, but Sydney Sr. and Jr. figured Lewis wouldn’t run up to a stranger like that. Sydney Jr. tugged at her father’s sleeve. “Daddy, daddy, that’s Lewis!” she declared, pointing at her new friend.

Lewis shifted shyly. Adults liked him more than kids, but he still got nervous around them.

Sydney Sr. grinned and squatted so he was more at Lewis’ eye level. “Hey there! Sydney’s been telling me about you!” He ruffled Sydney Jr’s hair. “I’m glad she was able to make a friend. She’s like me; she tends to annoy people who aren’t used to her antics.”

“I don’t think she’s annoying,” said Lewis.

That got a grin from Sydney Sr. “That’s good to hear!” He straightened and turned his attention to Savina. “And you must be Lewis’ mother.”

Savina nodded. “Yes, he’s told me and Frigg about Sydney as well.”

“I think it would be nice to let them spend time together outside of school. Why don’t we exchange contact information?” suggested Sydney Sr. “So they can play at our houses.”

Savina hummed. “That might be a good idea for other reasons. It hasn’t come up yet, but sometimes the restaurant needs both Frigg and I present to deal with the workload.”

“That wouldn’t happen very much with us,” commented Sydney Sr. “We’d be happy to look after Lewis for you if you needed it.”

“Still, I would like to talk to Frigg about it first,” said Savina.

Sydney Sr. chuckled. “Yeah, Noelle would probably kill me if I let Sydney spend a day at your house without asking her first.”

The two exchanged information, said good-bye, and went home.

 

The next morning, Sydney Jr. got a surprise from her father. “You’re going home with Lewis today.”

Sydney Jr’s eyes widened. “Really?!”

Sydney Sr. nodded. “Yep! Your mom and I had a talk with Lewis’ parents. They said they were okay with you spending the day at their house on school days. Lewis can spend time here during the weekend. Sound good?”

Sydney Jr. nodded happily. “Mm hm!” She jumped out. “I gotta get supplies!”

Sydney Sr. laughed good naturally.

 

The school day was pretty normal. Sydney and Lewis sat too far apart to interact during class, played around during recess, and talked during lunch with a few exchanges of food.

It didn’t change until it was time for pick up and Frigg Pepper showed up with a note for the teacher. She looked at it and nodded. Frigg walked over to where Sydney and Lewis were talking while gesturing wildly. “Hello, Lewis, Sydney.”

“Hello Papa!” “Hi Mr. Lewis’ Dad!”

Frigg chuckled. “All right. Let’s get you two home then.”

Sydney immediately took off her backpack and pulled out a couple of action figures. “I got Batman and Spider-man to play with! And comics! I don’t know most the words, but I like to make up what they’re saying in the word bubbles.”

“Hold on, hold on. You two need to work on your homework,” said Frigg.

Sydney wilted. “Aw…”

“Can’t we play a little bit before we do homework?” pleaded Lewis.

“Hm…” Frigg studied the two kids. They were pretty energetic. “Perhaps it would be all right for you to play for a bit while I make a snack.”

“Yay!”

Then they got home and Sydney was thrown for a loop. “You have a bone garden.”

She was, of course, referring to the cemetery just feet from the back porch. It was a very large cemetery, and the gate was right there.

“C’mon.” Lewis pushed the gate open and slipped in.

Sydney blinked. “Are we allowed?”

Lewis nodded. “Yeah, when it’s light out. They only lock it at night.”

So Sydney slipped in after him. “I’ve never been in a bone garden before,” she commented as she looked around.

“It’s a cemetery,” said Lewis.

Sydney shrugged. “My dad calls them bone gardens.” She brightened. “Oh! I know what to do!” She ran over to a pair of graves and started doing a monologue about dead parents and vengeance.

Lewis stared in confusion for a moment, partly because he had no idea what Sydney was doing, and partly because the ghost hovering over a nearby grave had immediately moved away from them with an odd look on his face. Well, Sydney could be a bit overwhelming when you first met her. “What’re you doing?”

“Batman is talking about his dead parents and how he has to fight crime for them,” explained Sydney. “Then Spider-man is gonna apologize to Uncle Ben.”

“Why does Batman have to fight crime for his parents and who’s Uncle Ben?”

Sydney gave Lewis an affronted look. “You don’t know?!”

“Amnesia!”

“Right…” Sydney kept forgetting about that. “So, Bruce Wayne was just a child when his parents were shot by a mugger in front of him.”

Lewis winced. “Ow.”

“Bruce decided to spend his entire life to fighting crime, even though he doesn’t have any powers. So he got really smart and strong and dressed up like a bat to scare criminals!”

“Why didn’t he just become a police officer?” questioned Lewis.

Sydney had to pause at that. She shrugged. “Dunno. He just didn’t.” She hefted Spider-man up. “Peter Parker was at a science thing when a radioactive spider bit him and gave him cool spider powers!”

Lewis didn’t think radioactivity worked that way.

“He used it to become a wrestler and was a bit of a jerk at first. He let a mugger get away. Then the mugger shot and killed Peter’s Uncle Ben, who was pretty much Peter’s dad ‘cause his parents died when he was really young.”

Lewis winced. “Oh…”

“So he decided he would never do nothing again,” finished Sydney.

“Is…is that normal for superheroes?” asked Lewis.

Sydney shrugged. “I think it’s a good reason, but Green Lantern was in the army when he got his powers so I guess he just kept doing that. I guess it’s different for different people.” She looked around. “So, what do you usually do in here?”

Lewis usually played with the ghosts, but he didn’t think he could do that while Sydney was here. “Run around and look at what the gravestones say.”

Sydney shrugged. “Okay. Are there any funny ones? Like a giant clothespin?”

A…what? “No…”

Sydney pouted. “Aw…”

They spent several more minutes running around the cemetery until Frigg called them in for snacks and homework.

“I like homework better than schoolwork,” commented Sydney. “’Cause I keep getting distracted, but my mom and dad get me undistracted.”

Frigg nodded. He and Savina had been told about Sydney’s ADHD. “That makes sense. It sounds like you’d work better in a group than by yourself.”

“Oh! Maybe I can work with Lewis!” said Sydney.

Lewis nodded. “Yeah! But…I sit in the back, and you sit in the front…”

“Maybe one of us can move?” suggested Sydney.

“But no one can see over me, and you can’t see over anyone,” reasoned Lewis.

Sydney pouted. “Being small sucks!”

Frigg made a startled sound. “Sydney, could you not use that word?”

“Which word?”

“…sucks.”

“Why?”

“It’s just…rude.”

“Oh, is it one of those words Dad says that I’m not allowed to say?” realized Sydney.

Frigg was suddenly concerned about what Lewis would be hearing at the Scoville resident. “Yes.”

Sydney nodded. “Okay.”

“Why is that a bad word?” questioned Lewis.

Frigg coughed. “We’re getting off subject. Let’s focus back on your schoolwork.”

After they finished their homework, Sydney pulled out her comics which they messed around with until there was a knock on the door. Frigg went to open it and was a bit taken aback by the woman on the other side.

She had white hair and skin so pale that he would have thought she was albino if she didn’t have brown eyes. She was also rather short and skinny and looked too tired. She gave him a smile. “Hello, I’m Noelle Scoville. I’m here to pick Sydney.”

“Of course.” Frigg stepped back so Noelle could enter. “They’re in the kitchen. Just this way.”

Sydney had already packed up by the time they’d gotten there. “Hi Mom. This is Lewis.”

Noelle smiled. “Hello Lewis. It’s nice to meet you. Did you and Sydney have fun?”

Lewis nodded. “Yeah, it’s nice having someone to play with.”

“Can I come again tomorrow?” asked Sydney.

Noelle looked to Frigg, who nodded. She turned back to Sydney. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

“Yay!” Sydney hugged her mother’s legs. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Noelle chuckled. “Well, we’ll see you two tomorrow then.”

“Actually, Savina, my wife, will be looking after them tomorrow,” said Frigg.

“Well, I look forward to meeting her then,” said Noelle.

Sydney took her mother’s hand. “Bye Lewis! See you tomorrow!”

Lewis nodded as the two walked towards the door. “Bye!”

As Frigg closed the front door he let out a sigh of relief. “Well, I have to say that went well for our first playdate.”

Lewis decided to copy Sydney and hugged Frigg’s legs. “Thank you for letting Sydney come over.”

Frigg chuckled and ruffled Lewis’ hair. “Of course.”

 

The next day started out much the same. Savina picked up Lewis and Sydney, they went to the Pepper home, and the two kids went to play in the cemetery. This time the ghosts seemed a bit more comfortable around Sydney, so they were playing tag with the kid ghosts.

Sydney didn’t know there were ghosts playing with them, but Lewis didn’t think it was a big deal.

At least he didn’t until Sydney collided with a ghost and knocked both of them to the ground. Lewis’ mouth fell open. The ghost let out a shriek and darted out from under Sydney, causing her to fall again with an ‘oof’. Sydney pushed herself up, looking around in confusion. “Did I just hit a ghost?”

Lewis nodded while said ghost complained about how weird that had felt.

“Huh…” Sydney looked around in confusion. “Mr. Ghost! Or Ms. Ghost! Are you okay?!” Lewis jumped at the shouting. “I didn’t mean to hit you!”

“Why are you shouting?” asked Lewis.

“I don’t know where the ghost went,” explained Sydney.

Lewis pointed at the ghost. “He’s right there!”

Sydney blinked. “He is?”

“Yeah, can’t you see them?”

Sydney shook her head. “No, can you?”

“Um…” Lewis averted his gaze. “Yes.”

“Neat!” Lewis snapped his attention back to Sydney as she turned in the general direction of the ghost she’d bumped into. “I’m sorry I ran into you. I didn’t see you.”

“That hurt!” complained the ghost. “Be more careful!”

Sydney gave no reaction. She must not be able to hear them either. “He said it hurt and you should be more careful,” muttered Lewis.

Sydney made a face. “Ghosts can get hurt? How’s that work?”

Lewis opened his mouth and shut it. How did that work? He’d never seen any of the ghosts in any sort of pain. “How did she hurt you anyway? It looked like she just ran into you.”

The ghost pouted. “Well, it still hurt for some reason.”

“Um…” Lewis turned to Sydney and shrugged. “I don’t think he knows either.”

“Huh.” Sydney walked over to where she thought the ghost was and reached out. Her hand pushed against his chest. “Ghosts are slippery.” The ghost decided he’d had enough and went back into the ground. Sydney waved her hand through the now empty space in confusion. “Where’d he go?”

“He, uh, he left,” explained Lewis. The other ghosts had left at some point too. “You…you really couldn’t see or hear him?”

Sydney shook her head. “Nope.”

“But you could touch him.”

Sydney stared at her hand. “Yeah, how’d I do that anyway?” She stared at Lewis. “How ‘come you can see ‘em?”

Lewis shrugged. “I don’t know. I just can.” And hear them and touch them. “You don’t think it’s weird?”

Sydney also shrugged. “Well, you live next to a cemetery,” she said as if that explained everything.

Lewis wondered a bit at her logic. “You don’t live next to a cemetery, and you can touch them.”

“Hm…” Sydney blinked. “Oh! Maybe I caught it from you! Like a cold!”

“I dunno if it works like that,” muttered Lewis. “Mom and Dad can’t see ghosts.”

“Oh, yeah…” Sydney thought for a moment before shaking her head. “I got nothing.”

The two stared at each other for a couple of moments.

“Kids! The snacks are ready!” called Savina from the back porch.

Sydney immediately smiled. “Ooh! Snacks!” She grabbed Lewis’ hand and dragged him towards the house. “C’mon! I’m hungry!”

“Ye-yeah.” Did Sydney not care about him seeing ghosts and her touching a ghost?

…

…Would it be a bad thing if she didn’t? He didn’t want to lose his only friend because she thought something was wrong with him.

“We’re still friends…right?” asked Lewis.

Sydney glanced back. “Huh? Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

Lewis smiled. “Nevermind.”

Sydney blinked and went back to dragging him to the house. “Okay.”

That was when Lewis realized they were going to be friends for a long time.


	4. Not a Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's family was far from loving.
> 
> Possibly some sort of trigger in this chapter.

Arthur Kingsman was not a witch.

Strange stuff happened around him. Always him. Sometimes when he was alone. Sometimes when other people were around. The community had noticed that the oddities happened around Arthur and had started whispering.

Arthur heard them. Witch was the nicest thing they called him, but he knew that couldn’t be right. He’d never made any deals with any devils or demons or even any strange adults he didn’t know. He didn’t know why strange things happened around him. He just did his best to ignore them. It wasn’t always easy, but the things mostly left him alone.

One night, something bit him on his arm hard enough to break the skin. Arthur screamed and punched and kicked and curled up under his bed covers praying for the thing to go away and for someone to help him.

Nobody came.

In the morning, Arthur sucked it up, got dressed, put some medicine on the bite mark, and walked into the kitchen for breakfast.

No one said anything about his scream the night before, but his father noticed the mark on his arm. “Arthur, what is that?” his father demanded in a dangerous tone.

Arthur shifted nervously. “I think something bit me last night…”

His father abruptly slammed a hand onto the table. “Boy! This has gone too far! Bad enough you’ve been conjuring spirits, but now they’re attacking and marking God fearing people!”

Arthur hadn’t conjured anything, and whatever these were he was the only one being attacked so far. He was too scared to say this to his father though. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve had enough. You’re going to enter the service.”

Arthur sucked in a breath. The service was for 12-year-olds until they became adults. They left home and became soldiers and once they were done training they apprenticed under a business of some kind to learn how to work. The couldn’t go home until they were adults. Arthur was seven. He didn’t want to leave home and never see his family again, but he didn’t have any say in the matter. He simply bowed his head. “Yes sir.”


	5. Don't Grow Up So Fast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi wants to follow in her family's footsteps.

Vivi was frustrated.

“I believe that is enough for today,” said her father, Hiro Yukino. “Why don’t you see if any of those cartoons you like are on?”

Vivi huffed. Three hours. Three hours of training in martial arts three days a week, and she wasn’t improving at all. Oh, she was in good shape. It was impossible not to be with how many workouts she was put through.

But skill on the other hand…

She just couldn’t seem to grasp how to move, how to stand, how to block or punch or even move her head.

“Vivi.” Vivi started and turned to her father. “There is no shame in lacking martial skills. No one can master everything in life. You’re intelligent. You don’t need to choose this sort of life.”

And that just made Vivi angry because that was the sort of life she wanted: Fighting ghosts and villains, casting spells, rescuing damsels and dudes in distress, but for some reason she just didn’t get fighting!

“I’m gonna practice with Obaa-san,” announced Vivi as she walked out of the dojo.

“Make sure to clean up first,” her father called after her.

Well, he had a point, Vivi was all sweaty and gross.

One quick shower and change of clothes later, Vivi walked into the living room to find Obaa-san watching one of her Japanese dramas while their pet dog, Ben, snored on the couch next to her. “Obaa-san, can we practice ofuda?”

“You don’t need to,” replied Obaa-san.

Vivi pouted. “But I want to!”

Obaa-san turned to give Vivi a look. “You can perfectly write out every single ofuda I have shown you. While you need to occasionally practice to keep the skill from rusting, every other day is a bit much.”

“But you never know when a ghost will attack!” insisted Vivi.

“Vivi, when was the last time any of our wardings needed replacing or maintenance?” asked Obaa-san.

“Um…” That was a good question actually. Vivi couldn’t recall ever seeing them being tended to besides her father telling visitors not to touch them. “Never?”

Obaa-san nodded. “They last a very long time as long as they are not damaged. We only have a few requests for them a month, more often for luck and success than protection from malevolent forces. The fact of the matter is that we now have a surplus of ofuda and nothing to use them for.”

Vivi pouted some more. “Then can’t you teach me something else?”

“Not until you’re older or your powers awaken.” Obaa-san took a sip of her tea. “Honestly, even if your powers awakened tomorrow, I’d still rather wait until you’re older. You’ll have plenty of time to worry about spell work and defenses then. You should allow yourself to enjoy being a child while you still can.”

“I’m not a little kid! I’m almost 10!”

“That’s still a child,” deadpanned Obaa-san.

“But it’s not fair! I’m actually good at this, so why shouldn’t I learn as much as I can?!”

“Because that mindset is dangerous,” Obaa-san said, completely serious. “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. That’s how we get demons in the realm of mortals and magic users who lose their lives, or even their souls. You need to appreciate how dangerous the spirit world can be before you even think about setting foot in it.”

Vivi could see she wasn’t going to make any progress with her Obaa-san and decided to leave before she did something disrespectful. Some creaking and light footsteps informed her that Ben had decided to follow her.

Vivi found herself in the kitchen, where her mother, Serena, was working on dinner. Serena looked up and gave Vivi a smile. “Hi, honey. How’re you doing?”

Vivi grunted as she pulled herself onto a chair. “Why doesn’t anyone take me seriously?”

“Well, kids aren’t meant to be serious,” reasoned Serena. “Kids should be having fun and learning about themselves while they still can. Once you have responsibilities, like jobs and children, you’ll find you have a lot less time to have fun doing the things you like.”

“But I like ghosts and magic and stuff!” protested Vivi.

Serena nodded. “Well, that’s fortunate. Just keep up your studies, and I’m sure you’ll become an amazing paranormal investigator.”

Vivi sighed. “It would be easier if I’d just get my powers already. You’re lucky you were born with your powers.”

Serena paused at that. “I can see why you would think that, but if you were to ask me, I’d say the Yukinos are lucky to not have any powers until they get older.”

Vivi frowned. “Huh? Why?”

“Well, you have to remember, I didn’t know anyone else with powers when I was a child. When I talked about seeing people glowing I tended to scare people away. My parents had me medicated with some pretty strong drugs that only affected my ability to think because they were worried something was wrong with my brain,” explained Serena.

“Yeah, but you and Dad wouldn’t think that,” pointed out Vivi. “You would know I had powers.”

“But what if something was wrong with your brain?” pointed out Serena. “And we misdiagnosed that as a psychic power? It could have a pretty negative effect on your life.”

Vivi wasn’t sure how to argue that.

“Besides that, people remembered that I had talked about seeing things when I was younger, which left me with a reputation as having something wrong with me. The medication side effects didn’t help. I had a very hard time making friends for most of my life until I met your father, and that was just because he recognized that I might have some sort of psychic power instead of a mental illness.” Serena sighed. “Think about that. Almost 15 years without a real friend because as a child I didn’t know any better than to ask about the strange things I saw, the same as any other child.” She ruffled Vivi’s hair. “You don’t have to worry about that. You have friends that you can spend time with.”

Yeah, but none of them liked ghosts. They thought ghosts were scary! They were sort of okay with magic, but had a lot of misconceptions that Vivi had been trying to correct. “I guess,” she finally muttered.

Serena smiled sadly at Vivi, sensing that Vivi was still unhappy with her situation. She hoped Vivi would one day appreciate these days where she was free to do what she wanted without concerns about money or health or any other complications.

Those days would be long gone before they knew it.


	6. Kids Being Friends

When Lewis was 10 his parents told him he was going to be a big brother in a little over eight months.

Lewis…wasn’t actually sure how to feel about that.

“What if they love the new baby more than they love me?” Lewis asked Sydney as they raked leaves for a leaf pile to jump in. “It’ll actually be theirs. They just found me on their porch!”

Sydney shrugged. “I dunno. I mean sometimes people have kids and don’t love ‘em…So I don’t think you need to actually be related for them to love you.”

Lewis sighed. “I don’t know.”

Sydney stopped and studied Lewis. He looked unusually downtrodden, not like the upbeat, friendly, patient boy she’d gotten to know over the past few years. This was really bothering him. So she strode over and took his hand, making him look at her. “Hey, I don’t know much about adoption or fostering, but I remember you weren’t actually adopted ‘til after we became friends.” They’d had a big party. “They wanted you to stay. So they must love you.”

Lewis knew that was pretty rational, but he was still worried. “I guess, but they’ll have to spend all their time with the new baby.”

Sydney huffed. “Well, yeah, babies can’t do anything for themselves. They have to be fed and changed and…Well I guess they can cry and sleep and crap on their own, but they can’t use the toilet…” Sydney started taking apart a leaf. “And you gotta do everything for ‘em. If your other kids can take care of themselves, you let them.”

“That’s not fair,” muttered Lewis.

Sydney thought a moment. “I guess not. At least you have a mom and dad. If you only had one parent I bet it would be really bad.” Sydney brightened. “Besides, maybe Mom and Dad will finally let you stay the night on a school night!”

Lewis blinked. “Why?”

“Babies cry at night.”

Lewis made a face at that. “Babies sound like a lot of work.”

Sydney shrugged. “We’d go extinct without them.” That was a bit much. “I think you’re lucky. I’d love a little brother or sister, but Mom can’t have kids anymore.”

Lewis blinked. “Why not?”

Sydney paused. “They wouldn’t really tell me. I know there were a lot of problems when I was born, and we both had to stay in the hospital for a while.” Sydney had been born dangerously premature. She was still dealing with the effects even now. She wasn’t sure what had hurt her mother, but she wasn’t in the best of health either. Maybe being pregnant had made her health even worse. “I asked about adopting someone, but Dad said that we couldn’t afford it, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t approve of us anyway because he’s a bit crazy and Mom’s not in the best shape.”

“Oh…” For some reason it had never occurred to Lewis that someone who wanted a child wouldn’t be able to have one. “Am…I your brother?”

Sydney blinked. “Hm…I think so. We spend all our time together. I like your parents as much as I like mine. Do you like my parents the same as yours?” Lewis nodded. “Then I guess you’re my big brother!”

“You’re older than me.” Lewis paused. “Probably.”

“Yeah, but you’re like a foot taller than me,” muttered Sydney. She hated being short. “Oh! I know! Just think of the new baby as me! No, wait. That would be weird. Never mind. We’ll have to think of something else.”

Lewis couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Sydney pouted and threw a handful of leaves at him. Said leaves flew apart almost immediately and just sort of stuck to his jacket. Lewis threw some leaves back at Sydney. The impromptu leaf fight continued until Sydney accidentally scooped up a small pinecone with one of her leaf wads. “Ow!”

“Oh shit! Are you okay?!”

Lewis rubbed his chin where the pinecone had hit him. It might have left a couple of scratches. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Sydney grimaced. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t even notice that pinecone!”

“It’s okay. It was an accident,” insisted Lewis. Sydney still looked concerned. Lewis grinned, picked her up, and jumped into the leaf pile.

Sydney let out a surprised shriek. “Lewis!”

Lewis giggled. “Now we’re even.”

Sydney glared and punched his arm. “Jerk.”

“Weirdo.” Lewis flopped onto his back.

“Oh!” Sydney fell back too and started moving her arms and legs. “Leaf angel! Not as good as a snow angel, but not as cold, and as good as we’re gonna get down here.”

Lewis experimentally moved his arms back and forth for a few moments. It was kind of messy, but it worked. Lewis stared up at the sky. “Hey, Sydney?”

“Hm?”

“If we’re family, that means we’ll always be friends, right?” asked Lewis.

Sydney nodded, not that Lewis could see it. “Yeah!”

“And we’ll always be nearby?”

Sydney blinked. “Like…stay in Tempo?” Sydney thought a moment. “I wanna stay in Tempo. Are you gonna stay in Tempo? You could go to college.”

“I wanna be a chef.”

“You can still go to college.”

“Yeah, but you would stay here.”

“Yeah, regular school is hard enough. I don’t think I can do college.” Sydney sighed. “And I don’t know what I wanna do…”

“You could work at the restaurant.”

“I guess…” Sydney appreciated that the Peppers would have a place for her, but she didn’t have a lot of interest in the cooking industry. Still, at least she’d get to spend time with friends. “But I don’t think you should skip college just because I do. It’s just four years, and you can come back to Tempo during breaks.”

“…I’m afraid that we’ll stop being friends,” admitted Lewis. Even if it was broken up, four years was a long time.

“Why would that happen?” questioned Sydney. “We can call each other on cell phones.”

“We don’t have cell phones.”

“Mom says they’re the future and everyone’s going to have one soon.”

“…If I went to college and we had cell phones, could we talk every day?” asked Lewis.

Sydney shrugged. “Sure. Probably in the evening. I’m gonna have a job by then.” Sydney briefly thought about becoming a comic artist but was just enough of a realist to understand how unlikely that was.

Lewis sat up and held out a hand. “Pinky promise?” He didn’t want to lose Sydney.

Sydney sat up with a smile and hooked their pinkies together. “Pinky promise.”


	7. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur leaves. There are consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody dies, but it's no one you know. Possible trigger though?

Arthur was getting nervous. Some sort of disease was going around the compound. It wasn’t killing adults, but younger children and babies and older people…

Arthur had been a bit concerned when it started going around, but he thought he was safe.

Then he heard people wondering if he was somehow causing this.

Arthur bit his lip and gripped his arms.

He didn’t know what he was doing wrong. He’d followed the rules. He’d never talked back. He barely talked at all. He even threw himself into the various subjects he’d been expected to learn.

But the monsters still appeared around him. And the rest of the compound still looked at him like he was less than human. Like he was a monster waiting to rip their throats out.

And as Arthur eavesdropped and heard them planning to hurt him for something he knew he hadn’t done it finally hit him.

Nothing he did would ever change their mind.

They would always see him as a witch and a monster, a plague on their community.

And Arthur wondered…if he was damned by default…so damned that no amount of faith could save him…

Then…maybe it was pointless to stay.

Did that mean…It would be all right to leave? The community would be happy with him gone. Arthur…wasn’t sure if he would be happy, but he figured he’d at least have a chance.

Arthur immediately grabbed his pack and put all of his wordly possessions inside. No point in waiting. If he tried to plan his escape, someone would find out. Besides, he didn’t like the things he’d heard whispered when no one realized he was around.

Arthur carefully snuck out of the compound and into the surrounding forest. So far so good. He did his best to move silently in case there were any patrols around. If he got caught he’d be taken back to the compound and be in even more trouble.

Good thing Arthur had a lot of experience being quiet and avoiding being noticed.

Arthur wished that he had some camouflage, but kids didn’t get camouflage.

The sun started to dip lower in the sky. Arthur didn’t want to stop. He was getting tired, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. His muscles itched, his hands were twitching, his chest was clenched, and he couldn’t stop thinking. Experience had shown this meant he would just toss and turn and stare at the ceiling all night.

Might as well put some more distance between him and the community.

Arthur glanced at the sky to make sure he was still heading in the same direction. He wasn’t sure which way he should have gone, but he hadn’t been able to be picky when he left.

The stars would be out soon.

Arthur heard movement and his instincts screamed and Arthur grabbed his knife and moved and there was someone else and forward and down and…

There was a dead man lying in front of him. There was blood everywhere.

There was something sticky and warm covering Arthur. He looked down.

Red. All over him.

Arthur started breathing rapidly. This man was dead.

Because Arthur killed him.

He ran.


	8. Finding Kin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's life changes.

Lance had been having a pretty normal day before he got a phone call at 1:13PM.

“Hello, may I speak to Lance Kingsman?” asked the man on the other side.

“Speaking.”

“This is Child Protection Services.” He was a bachelor with no kids. “Are you related to an Arthur Kingsman?”

Lance paused. “No idea.” It had been a while since he’d spoken to the rest of his family. “I got a cousin living in the states.”

“Percival Kingsman?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah.”

“We determined Percival Kingsman is the name of Arthur’s father, but when we suggested reuniting Arthur with the rest of his family, he had a panic attack. We checked the records and found your name listed as a relative. Do you have any idea if Percival might be abusing Arthur?”

Lance shrugged. “Can’t say. I haven’t seen Percy in 20 years, but he did have a bit of a temper. I lost touch with him after he joined that cult.”

“Yes, the Return to God Movement…” The agent seemed rather unsure. Not that Lance could blame her. He found the whole concept confusing.

“So, what’s gonna happen to Arthur?” asked Lance.

“Well, he’s being evaluated. If he’s mentally stable, he will be placed in foster care.”

Lance briefly wondered why the kid’s sanity was in question before deciding it was unimportant. Then he made another important decision. “Nah, I can look after him.”

“That’s…allowed,” admitted the officer. “But you just found out about Arthur. Are you even prepared to look after a child?”

“No idea, but I intend to give it a try,” said Lance. Maybe it seemed to come out of the blue to the case worker, but Lance’s father and uncle had been trying to get Percy out of that cult almost as soon as he joined and had made plans and preparations in case he left. When they’d gotten old and become sicker, they’d asked Lance to take over in case Percy or anyone else got out.

Lance hadn’t actually been expecting to keep that promise, but he wasn’t going to just abandon his kin. “Now, where is he?”

“Calhoun, Mississippi.”

After exchanging a bit more information, Lance promised to be there tomorrow and hung up to go get ready. He threw his things into an overnight bag, made some calls to customers to let them know he’d have to delay some repairs, and cleaned up the guest room. He called in a guest room, but it was more like a storage room that someone had shoved a bed into for some reason. He’d have to find somewhere else to keep the boxes now.

Most of them ended up in Lance’s room. He decided this was fine for now, got into his truck, and started driving.

 

Lance got to Calhoun with no problems and went to the CPS building first thing in the morning. He introduced himself to the secretary, was taken to a large room in the back, and sat down to wait.

After several minutes of waiting, the door opened to a middle-aged woman with a clipboard. She smiled at Lance. “Hello, I’m Wanda Byrd.”

Lance nodded in greeting. “Lance Kingsman.”

Wanda nodded back before looking behind her. “C’mon. One foot in front of the other.”

A kid, 11 or 12 shuffled in. He was hunched over and hugging himself. He glanced at Lance nervously before looking away. Lance noticed that he had the Kingsman hair: Orange hair that quickly faded to bright yellow with a black lock at the front. The kid also had the odd orange-brown eyes that sometimes popped up in their family.

“Hey kid.” Lance got up off the chair, noting he was about the same size as the kid. “It’s Arthur, right?”

Arthur nodded. “Yes sir.”

“Right, I’m gonna be honest. I have no idea how to do this,” admitted Lance. That got Arthur to look at Lance again. “I have no experience with kids. I’m making this up as I go along. I might say something that upsets you, but it’s not intentional. I’m just blunter than most people.”

Arthur blinked in confusion.

“Now, we don’t know each other. That’s not your fault. It’s not my fault.” Personally, Lance thought it was Percy’s fault, but he wasn’t going to say that within the first five minutes of meeting the man’s son. “But we are kin, and I would like to get to know you and help you. I’m not sure how much I can help you, but I’m certainly going to try to do as much as I can.”

Arthur shuffled. “I…Why is everyone trying to help me?”

Wanda smiled at Arthur. “I know the leaders of your community said that the world is full of horrible people, but most people are genuinely good. People who will do what they can to help others.”

Arthur looked away. “But I killed-”

“Someone who was going to hurt you,” finished the Wanda.

Lance’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. Seems that someone had forgotten to share that piece of information with him. Arthur’s eyes darted towards Lance. “I’m not gonna judge ya.” He turned to Wanda. “So, how are we gonna do this?”

“Well, we need to see how the two of you interact with each other. Then we have to determine if you’ll be able to deal with Arthur’s particular needs.”

Right. Kid probably needed therapy. Lance had some money saved up. They should be okay. He just needed to be sure the kid liked him. He still wasn’t sure how to go about that, but he figured they could at least sit down while they got to know each other and pulled out the chair at the nearby table. It took a few moments for Arthur to follow his example with the caseworker right behind him.

“So, what do you like to do?” asked Lance.

“I…” Arthur paused. He looked lost. “I don’t know.”

“…” Okay, this was just wrong. Lance turned to Wanda. “Do we have to do this here or can it be anywhere in the city?”

“As long as the two of you have supervision.”

Lance nodded. Seemed reasonable. “You got any arcades around here?”

Wanda winced. “Arthur doesn’t seem comfortable around crowds yet.”

“Ah, sorry, didn’t think of that.” Lance thought a bit more. “What about a comic store? One with chairs?”

Surprisingly, the center listed three comic stores like this. Lance asked if any were near restaurants. That narrowed it down to one. Lance loaded them up into his truck and they were at the store roughly 20 minutes later.

“If you see something that looks interesting, go ahead and grab it,” said Lance as he looked for anything he might like. Lance wasn’t a huge comic fan, but he had read some as a kid. And comics had come a long way since then. Some comics were serious and had plots that were genuinely interesting even to adults. He should be able to find something he can read.

Arthur was just staring at the various comics in confusion. “Which comes first?”

Lance paused. “Most of these comics have been running for decades.”

Arthur stared. “But-how does anyone know what’s going on?”

Aw Hell. This might be more complicated than Lance had thought. He looked around for maybe a graphic novel or a one shot and noticed several thick books that were the first volume of various Marvel titles. That ought to work. “Try these. They’re the first few issues from the 60’s.”

Arthur stared at the thicker volumes in confusion for several minutes. He eventually picked up The Incredible Hulk and cautiously read the first few pages. He frowned. “Science doesn’t work like this.”

“Hm?”

“Radiation poisoning does not give people special abilities. It causes random mutations that vary cell by cell and causes the body to break down rapidly to the point where organs break down. If one somehow survives, they would definitely suffer from various types of cancers. Besides that, Dr. Banner breaks the Law of Conservation of Mass. Perhaps energy could be converted into mass, but that would only be possible during the explosion, and changing back into his normal form would cause some sort of release of energy. And the physics are all wrong…”

“They care more about the story than the science,” interrupted Lance. Arthur abruptly seemed to shrink back from him. Lance mentally kicked himself. “Sorry, that came out wrong.” Arthur gave him a surprised look. “What I mean is…people don’t read ‘em for the science. It’s to see people overcome odds that they normally wouldn’t be able to, and powers make it so that they are more capable of that. Yeah, some of ‘em don’t make sense. The writers aren’t scientists so they have to do some guesswork. It’s just good fun.”

“Fun…” Arthur stared at the comic. “I…Can I have fun?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, you just have to figure out what you enjoy doing. You sounded pretty passionate about science just now. Want to tell me a bit more about what the writers got wrong?”

Arthur glanced between Lance and the comic a bit more before hesitantly nodding. The three of them sat down at one of the tables with their purchases. Arthur took a few minutes before he found something else that bothered him and started talking about it, showing more knowledge on the subjects than Lance would have expected from a kid his age.

Lance made a note that Arthur was probably smarter than him.

Around noon, Lance decided it was time for lunch and hustled everyone to a burger restaurant.

Arthur stared at the burger and fries and milkshake like he’d never seen something like them before. Maybe he hadn’t. “What do you usually eat?”

“Roasted meat. Cooked vegetables. Bread.” Arthur picked up a fry. “What is it?”

“Hamburgers are beef between a couple of slices of bread basically,” said Lance. “You can add things like tomatoes and lettuce and onions to them.” He pointed at the fries. “French fries are potatoes sliced and fried in oil and salted.” He pointed at the milkshake. “That’s ice cream blended with milk. Ice cream is cream mixed with sugar and some other flavors and then frozen.” Lance took a bite of his own hamburger. “Just take one bite of each and we won’t nag you about it.”

Arthur cautiously bit a fry in half. He blinked in surprise as he chewed it and decided to eat the rest of the fry. Then he ate a few more. He took a cautious sip from his milkshake and blinked in surprise. He took another sip. He ate the rest of his fries. He drank some more of his milkshake. He studied his hamburger and took a bite, less cautious than before. He ate about half of his burger before Lance noticed Arthur was starting to look a bit sick. “You don’t have to eat it all.”

Arthur winced. “But…you can’t waste food.”

“You shouldn’t,” agreed Lance. “But accidents happen. As long as you don’t make a habit of it, don’t feel too bad about it.”

Arthur gulped but stopped eating at least. Lance decided to count it as a win.

Lance wasn’t entirely sure what to do after lunch. He considered a movie, but thought maybe it would be better if Arthur got his first movie experience in a controlled environment.

They ended up going to a library instead. Books were practically the same as movies except you had to come up with the pictures yourself.

Arthur seemed a lot more comfortable in the library than anywhere else they’d been. He went straight for…the nonfiction section? Arthur studied where various subjects could be found and headed for one particular shelf where he grabbed a book on robotics.

Lance took a moment to grab a book on refurbishing cars and glanced towards Wanda. She just shrugged. Fine.

They went to a set of chairs where Lance and Arthur started reading. Lance occasionally glanced towards Arthur. Arthur seemed engrossed in his book. “So, you like robots?”

“Oh, uh, I like mechanical stuff,” explained Arthur. “And I’ve never gotten the chance to learn about robots before.”

Lance nodded. “I’m pretty fond of mechanical stuff too. Even repair cars for a living.”

Arthur looked up. “Really? What’s that like?”

It was the first time Arthur had asked about Lance’s life, and Lance was relieved to answer. “It’s more fulfilling than you’d think. Been doing it since I was a kid. Got a junker of a car to fix up when it was getting around time for me to get a car. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. More expensive too, but I didn’t give up. Asked local mechanics for advice. Read some books. Eventually, I got it running again, and I enjoyed working on it, so I thought I ‘d see if I could make a career out of it. It was hard work, and it took a while to pay off my student loans, but I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

Arthur turned around the book he was reading so that a robot arm was showing. “Could you make an arm?”

Lance chuckled. “That’s a bit outside my area of expertise. I mostly work on cars. I know enough do some repairs around the house, like the air conditioning unit or the oven. That’s…” He pointed at the picture. “…a lot more complicated.”

Arthur frowned and turned the book around to look at the picture. “I wanted to build robots, but we didn’t have anything like that.”

“That’s…specific,” said Lance. He wasn’t sure what Arthur could do with that, but with how many things were automated nowadays he could probably find something. “Well, I don’t think you’ll be able to take any mechanical courses until high school, but I can get you started on the basics when I have some free time.”

Arthur gave Lance a startled look. “What do you mean?”

Now Lance was a bit confused. “You like robots?” Arthur nodded. “You like science?” Arthur nodded again. “Would you like to make a living building robots?” Arthur nodded. “Then you’ll need to take the proper courses to get into college and learn how to do that.”

Arthur gaped at Lance. “You-you’re okay with me making robots for a living?”

Lance nodded. “The way things are going it’ll be a good field to get into, and even if you decide robots aren’t for you, you’ll still be pretty good at fixing things, and things’ll always need fixing.” Arthur was still staring. “Okay, I’m thinking I’m missing something. What’s got you so gobsmacked?”

“You’re letting me choose what to do!” exclaimed Arthur, getting a few hushes.

Lance grunted. “’Course I am. It’s your life. You should get to choose how to live it.” He paused. “Well, as long as you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else. No drugs or stealing or the like.”

Arthur nodded, still looking shocked. “Are children always allowed to choose what to become?”

“Well, they might change their mind. Can’t grow up to be a dinosaur.” That got a snort from Arthur. “And well, you shouldn’t encourage someone who wants to join a gang or the like. Still, it’s best to let people choose what they want to be on their own. Most people want to do what they enjoy, and that makes sense. If you enjoy something, you do it when you have free time, and you become good at it. And people want jobs done well and correctly the first time since it saves everyone time and money.”

Arthur blinked. “Huh. I never thought about it like that. I was always told my role would be chosen by my commander when I was old enough.”

Lance snorted and shook his head. “Stupid.”

Arthur bit his lip. “So, you would be all right with me pursuing a career in making robots? Even if it was unrealistic?”

“I don’t think it’s unrealistic,” said Lance. “And even if it was, I’d at least let you give it a try while making sure you had useful skills for a backup job.”

“Like fixing cars?” suggested Arthur.

Lance nodded. “Or cooking or child care. Things that will always be in demand.”

“I’m not allowed near children,” said Arthur rather nervously.

“Why?”

Arthur’s eyes widened. “I, uh, I wasn’t…They didn’t…” Arthur trailed off. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fair enough.” Arthur would talk about it when he was ready.

“So, um, you want me to live with you?” asked Arthur. Lance nodded. “And you don’t mind me doing what I want as long as no one gets hurt?” Lance nodded. “Including working with robots when I grow up?” Lance nodded. “Even though we’ve never met.” Lance nodded. “Just because we happen to be related.”

“It’s more than that,” said Lance. “You need help. Have needed help for a while from the sound of it, and no one would step up. Now, a lot of people could help you. Would you trust them?” Arthur shook his head? “Do you trust me?” Arthur shook his head. “Didn’t think so. Can’t really blame ya either. But I know a thing or two about our family. Like the fact that’s your natural hair color. Your family had a Knights of the Round Table naming theme.” He gave Arthur a pointed look. “That your old man had a short temper and refused to believe anything was his fault.” Arthur winced. “Yeah, and I bet the sort of people he fell in with were pretty similar to him.” Arthur nodded. “That’s all the reason I need.”

Arthur looked down in thought for several moments before finally looking up and looking Lance in the eye. “Okay. I’ll…I’ll try to make this work.”

Lance chuckled. “That’s my line.” He glanced towards Wanda, who gave him a nod and a smile.

Looks like he was getting a kid then.


	9. Baby Belle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newest Pepper arrives.

Belle Pepper was born July 23rd in Tempo General Hospital. It was the middle of the night, so Lewis ended up spending the night with the Scovilles. He didn’t actually get a lot of sleep though because he was so nervous about what was going to happen, even with all the hugs he got from Sydney.

The next day he and the Scovilles went to the hospital. Lewis stared at the door, his stomach doing flip flops. Sydney slipped her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Her dad pushed the door open.

Savina was lying in the hospital bed, holding a pink bundle, Frigg by her side. Both were grinning. Lewis swallowed.

“Lewis, come over here,” asked Frigg.

Lewis did so automatically. Then Savina was slipping Belle into his arms and Frigg was arranging Lewis’ arms so that he was supporting Belle’s head along with holding her. Lewis froze up and stared at the tiny newborn in his arms.

Sydney peered at Belle. “I’m not the smallest anymore!”

Lewis let out a laugh. Belle wiggled and let out a cry. Lewis panicked and tried bouncing her a bit. She seemed to calm down.

“How come she’s wearing little gloves?” asked Sydney.

“Because her nails are thin enough that she could accidentally cut her skin with them,” explained Savina.

Sydney and Lewis both shuddered. “That’s scary,” said Sydney. She poked at one of Belle’s gloved hands. Said hand grabbed at her finger. “Babies actually do that?”

Lewis continued to study Belle. She was…smaller than he would have thought. Do people really start off this small? And her skin was a shade of pink he wasn’t expecting. She was breathing quietly as she slept.

She really was completely helpless. More so than Lewis could ever remember being.

And Lewis felt a sudden surge of protectiveness towards the newest Pepper.

He wasn’t going to ever let anything happen to her.


	10. Vivi meets Arthur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi's father gets a new student, and she gets a mystery.

Vivi had been having a boring day. She’d been planning on training with her dad, but he’d said someone had scheduled a private lesson so instead she was reading a book of ghost stories outside with Ben next to her.

Vivi was trying to figure out if the story about the silver man with a third eye was true when a short, stout man walked over, sat in one of the porch chairs, and opened a hunting magazine.

Vivi studied the man for a moment. He looked pretty tough even though he wasn’t that much taller than her. His body shape sort of reminded Vivi of how dwarves were often portrayed in fantasy series. Plus she was pretty sure that was a wrestling championship belt he was wearing. Also, his hair was pretty cool looking. Orange and yellow with some black thrown in. It even extended to his beard. “Hi mister!”

He glanced over the top of his magazine. “Hey.” Was that an accent she heard?

“I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?”

“Nah. Just prefer to keep to myself,” said the man.

He definitely had an accent. There were some elements of the typical southern accent a good portion of Tempo had, but it also had a lilt that she hadn’t heard from anyone else local. Vivi wondered if she could figure it out if they talked some more. If not, maybe after a bit of talking she would be able to ask without coming off as rude. “I’m Vivi. Who’re you?”

“Lance.”

She got a name! “Did you schedule the private lesson?” asked Vivi. “Dad doesn’t get many of those.”

Lance was silent. “My nephew needs some help.”

That caught Vivi’s attention. Nephew, not son. Was said nephew just visiting? Or was this a permanent situation? Was it a recent change or had it been like this for a while? Was there a way to ask without being nosy? “What’s his name?”

“Arthur.”

Vivi giggled. “Like the king.”

Lance groaned. “Yeah. The king.” Huh? Sore point?

A loud thump came from the dojo. Vivi looked in that direction in surprise. Wow, what were they doing in there? Vivi glanced towards Lance and saw him looking in the same direction with a furrowed brow. Was he worried?

Ben suddenly sat up and looked towards the dojo doors right before they were opened by Hiro. Vivi’s greeting died on her tongue when she noticed that A: He was bleeding, and B: He looked furious. “Dad?”

Hiro’s eyes darted to her before turning his attention to Lance. “Why does your nephew know how to kill?”

Vivi’s mouth dropped open. Lance winced, but didn’t seem too shocked. “That bad?”

“He just…If that knife had been real…” Hiro frowned and started pressing down on his head wound with a sigh. “Were you even aware?”

Lance glanced at Vivi. “I only know what I told you before.”

Feeling curious, Vivi peered past her father and into the dojo. Inside was a boy a bit younger than her who was clearly related to Lance. He was hunched in on himself and looked like he was about to have a panic attack. He didn’t look like a killer. He looked like a scared kid.

Ben stood and walked into the dojo. “Ben?” Ben walked over to the boy, Arthur, and sniffed him. Arthur blinked and held out a hand. Ben licked Arthur’s hand before Arthur started petting him. Vivi debated for a moment before following Ben into the dojo. Arthur stopped petting Ben and looked up at her with wide eyes. Vivi waved. “Hey.”

“Hi,” said Arthur.

“So…You live with your uncle?” Arthur nodded. “I’m kind of surprised you managed to land a hit on my dad. He’s pretty tough. Must be getting old.” Speaking of which, she could hear the two men talking in hushed tones that she couldn’t quite make out.

Arthur looked a bit uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean to!” he said, an accent similar to his uncle’s coloring the words.

Vivi blinked. “Oh, did you mess up a move? I do that all the time.” She huffed. “I just can’t seem to move correctly when I try to copy what Dad shows me. I guess I’m just not suited for fighting.”

“You’re lucky,” muttered Arthur.

Vivi blinked. “Huh?”

Hiro walked back in, pressing some gauze to his head. “Vivi, please step out so Arthur and I may continue the lesson.”

“Can I watch?” asked Vivi.

“Yes, you can. No, you may not,” responded Hiro.

Vivi pouted at her father’s grammar correction and walked back outside with Ben on her heels. Hiro closed the door behind her. Vivi huffed and sat down near Lance. The silence was awkward so she turned towards him. “So, where did Arthur learn to fight anyway?”

Lance gave her a look. “That’s personal.”

“Okay.” Something about Lance just made it clear that was settled. “So, where’s Arthur’s parents?”

“Not here.” Once again Lance somehow made Vivi not want to pursue the subject even though she wanted to know.

It was like some sort of mundane super power.

“You guys have pretty cool hair,” commented Vivi. “How do you get it like that?”

“Gel.”

Vivi waited. Lance didn’t go into detail. “Wait. That color’s natural?!”

“Yeah.”

How did that even work?! She guessed the orange to yellow could be the color fading somewhat, but what about the bits that were black? Especially the end of his beard? How do you even go from orange to black naturally? Vivi thought that sort of thing only showed up naturally in anime.

…Actually considering some of the anime hair people came up with, this was pretty tame. Vivi fingered her own black hair.

Her family’s hair turned blue when their power awakened. Her father died his hair black to avoid questions simply because he didn’t think he had the personality that would make dying his hair blue believable. Her Obaa-san’s hair had turned gray before Vivi was born.

Vivi wanted blue hair. She didn’t like the way black hair looked on her, didn’t like how it looked with her clothes. “I’m thinking of dying my hair blue,” she randomly said to Lance. Lance gave a grunt in response. “It’s kind of annoying how limited hair color is in humans, don’t you think? Mostly black and brown. Some red and orange and yellow. I think it would add more color…More eye colors would be nice too. We have more eye colors than hair colors, but it’s still mostly brown I think. Some blue. Some green. Hazel. Gray or purple if you’re lucky. I guess red if you’re albino. No orange or…” She trailed off. “Actually, your eyes look kind of orange. Maybe those are just super rare too…”

“Pops up in the family,” said Lance as way of explanation.

Did Arthur have orange eyes too? Vivi made a note to check when he came out of the dojo because she was definitely sticking around for that.

“So what do you do?” asked Vivi.

“Car mechanic.”

“Oh!” A couple of things snapped into place in Vivi’s head. “Kingsman Mechanics!”

She’d never been there. Tempo was just big enough to have three garages. Two were big chain garages that you could find anywhere. The last was Kingsman mechanics, which everyone preferred to the other two. It was a bit out of the way and owned by the only employee, but the work was second to none, and the owner (Lance if Vivi was right.) was willing to do payment plans that other places wouldn’t consider. Was apparently willing to barter to an extent if someone was in a tight spot. Even had a junkyard behind the shop that Vivi could only assume was for scavenging or something. When her father needed to have the car’s oil changed, he’d schedule at Kingsman Mechanics if he could get an appointment and they weren’t too busy. The way he’d described the owner, he was shorter than most, muscular, no nonsense, practical, and Scottish.

Huh, so his accent must be a combination of Southern and Scottish. No wonder it was so unusual. “What got you into cars?”

“…Seemed like a waste of money to buy a car when I could fix one up for myself.” Lance shrugged. “Turned out I liked fixing up cars.”

Vivi nodded. “Yeah, it’s lucky to get a job you enjoy.” She huffed. “I know what I wanna do, but I’ll probably have to get a second job or something.” Paranormal investigating wouldn’t pay all the bills.

At this point, Baa-san suddenly appeared, walked over, and plopped several ofuda on Lance’s leg. “Put those on your windows. They’ll repel negative spirits.” Lance raised an eyebrow as Baa-san walked back into the house.

Vivi was more surprised by how many ofuda Baa-san had given Lance. Why would he need that many so suddenly? If he’d never needed them before…

Unless they weren’t for him.

“What exactly does your grandmother do for a living?” asked Lance.

“She’s a former miko, Japanese shrine maiden, a sort of priestess,” explained Vivi. “Ofuda are…sort of like charms for luck or protection.” Vivi took a closer look. “Like Baa-san said, these are for repelling negative spirits that might try to hurt you. Kind of surprised she just came over and gave them to you. Usually she asks a bit more about what’s going on.” Actually, now that Vivi was looking closer, she could see these were ofuda that Baa-san had made, not Vivi, which would make them stronger than what they usually gave out. “Are you being followed around by something nasty?”

Lance glanced toward the dojo. Something to do with Arthur? Lance looked back at Vivi. “What exactly does your family do?”

“Well, like I said my Baa-san is a former miko, but still does little things out of habit. Dad is a theology teacher at the community college and teaches martial arts. Mom’s a psychologist.” Vivi grinned. “But we also occasionally do paranormal investigations. Not a lot though. Not much happens in Tempo.”

“Uh huh.” Lance studied the ofuda for another few moments before stuffing them in his pocket. So he was keeping them! “Any other way to keep away ghosts?”

Vivi grinned. “Having a priest bless your house usually helps. So does burning sage while praying. Some places sell sage bundled into sticks specifically for that purpose.”

“Hm.” Lance looked down for several moments.

Vivi opened her mouth to try and ask Lance if anything odd had been going on at his house, but Ben headbutted her in the stomach. She huffed and gave him a look. He just yawned.

“Does your dad give religion lessons?” asked Lance.

Vivi blinked. “What? At home?” Lance nodded. “I don’t know. He already has his lectures at the college.” What did religion have to do with seemingly unnecessary defense lessons and a possible haunting? “You could probably sit in on Dad’s classes for free if you don’t care about getting credits.”

“It’s not for me.”

Wow, what was up with Arthur? Before Vivi could ask, the dojo door opened. Her dad walked out, Arthur following a moment later. “That’s it for today. Lessons will be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The lessons on Saturday will be longer since school will not be an issue.”

Arthur looked at her dad in surprise. Lance nodded. “Thanks. Was getting worried I wouldn’t anyone. Any chance you could teach him theology or something?”

Hiro blinked, frowned, and studied Arthur. Arthur looked away, grasping at his arm. Hiro nodded. “That might not be a bad idea. Can you bring Arthur after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?”

Lance nodded. “I’ll make it work. Somehow.” He gestured turned, gesturing for Arthur to follow him. Arthur gave the Yukinos one last confused, lost look before leaving as well.

“What was that about?” asked Vivi.

Hiro sighed. “Arthur has had a rough life. He needs a lot of help if he wants a chance at living normally.” He turned to Vivi. “Would you mind sitting in on the theology lessons? It might help him if someone his age is present.”

An opportunity to figure out what’s going on? “Sure.”

“And don’t try to push Arthur for answers. He’s nowhere near ready,” continued Hiro.

Darn it.


	11. Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur and Vivi learn some new things.

Vivi had been learning about various religions since she was a kid. It came with having a theology professor for a father. She didn’t really bother to sit in on lessons much anymore, but she was curious about Arthur Kingsman and wanted to see how he’d react to the lessons.

His reactions were…honestly a bit concerning.

“I’m confused. Isn’t Christianity the one true religion?” asked Arthur.

Vivi tried very hard not to stare. Was-was he serious?

“Do you mean Catholicism, Baptism, Methodist, Protestant, or Lutheran?” countered Hiro.

Arthur blinked. “Uh, are those all different names for Christianity?”

“They are all different types of Christianity,” explained Hiro. “They all have different ideas as to how the scriptures are to be interpreted and how to practice their faith. No proof exists as to which is the ‘correct’ version.”

Arthur blinked. “The oldest?”

“That would be Roman Catholicism for simplicity’s sake.” Yeah, it was probably too soon to talk about The Gathering. “You don’t practice Catholicism. Your community did not practice Catholicism.” Hiro crossed his arms. “In fact, I’d say your elders were trying to come up with a new form of Christianity based on whatever occurred to them.”

Oh crap. Arthur was raised by a cult, wasn’t he?

“God told The Prophet that humanity was corrupting his followers so we had to isolate the true believers to keep them pure,” explained Arthur.

Yeah, definitely a cult.

“Wouldn’t God rather have his prophet spread his word to the masses and save those who were simply misled?” countered Hiro. “That is the standard pattern in the Bible, often with the prophets suffering to fulfill their goal. Yet, there are also signs of divine favor being placed upon them. A sort of combined blessing and test to see if they were worthy. Was your prophet ever visibly tested? Did he ever show any signs of powers that could not be explained logically or scientifically?”

Arthur opened his mouth, paused, and went still. “He, uh, he got arrested a couple of times for…stuff?”

“It couldn’t have been his religion,” reasoned Hiro. “We have a separation of church and state, and the Constitution allows for religious freedom. You could say that you believed a flying spaghetti monster created the universe and that pirates are his chosen prophets; it would be completely legal.”

Arthur made a face. “Who would believe that?”

“The Church of the Flying Spaghetti is just a bunch of people who make fun of people who think if schools are going to teach people about evolution, they should teach about intelligent design too,” Vivi provided helpfully.

Arthur blinked. “I have no idea what you just said.”

“The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a fake religion that acknowledges that it is fake,” explained Hiro. “Evolution is the very long process of one species becoming another over generations of random, favorable mutations adding up. It takes thousands of years so no one has actually witnessed it happening, and scientists rely on the fossil record to support the theory and determine what species evolved from previously. Intelligent design is the theory that God or a similar entity created the various species on the planet with a plan in mind for each one.” Hiro paused. “Out of curiosity if you had to choose between evolution and intelligent design, which would you believe in?”

“Intelligent design,” said Arthur.

Oh, this poor boy.

“Do you know how dog breeds work?” asked Hiro.

Arthur blinked in surprise at the sudden change in topic. “Uh, they only breed dogs with the traits they want?”

Hiro nodded. “And eventually the traits make them a distinct breed, a sort of artificial evolution. Now, what if a higher power, one that could live for millenia, did that with the species on Earth to make us along with all the animals we are familiar with?”

And now Arthur looked like his mind had been blown. “Is that what happened?”

Hiro shrugged. “I have no idea. These are all theories that cannot be proven unless someone figures out time travel.”

“…I’m so confused,” Arthur finally said.

Hiro nodded. “Religion is confusing. We wouldn’t have so many wars over it if it was clear cut. It’s really too bad.”

“Hey, uh, maybe we should end for today,” suggested Vivi. “It kind of looks like Arthur’s brain is about to explode.”

Hiro studied Arthur and decided Vivi was right. “All right. I do believe that is enough for the first day.” He pushed a book over to Arthur. “Your homework is to read the chapter detailing the different ways Christianity is practiced around the world. If you feel up to it, perhaps read the chapters on Judaism and Islam.” Hiro paused. “And if it is possible, try to find out why your prophet was arrested. It’s always a good idea to verify another person’s claims if possible.”

Vivi nodded. “Yeah, you’d be surprised what some people will lie about.”

Arthur looked like he wanted to argue about something but instead picked up the book. “Yes sir.”

Hiro nodded and checked his watch. “Now, your uncle should be here momentarily, and I have papers that I need to grade. Would you be all right left alone with Vivi and Ben?”

Arthur gave Hiro a shocked look. “But she’s a girl!”

“Hey!” What the heck was that supposed to mean?!

“Please explain to Vivi and me why that is a problem,” Hiro patiently requested.

“It’s improper for a boy and girl to be left alone unless they’re close relatives,” answered Arthur.

Oh, ugh, that was another cult thing, wasn’t it?

“You won’t be alone. Ben will be here to keep an eye on you,” said Hiro.

Said dog was sleeping between Vivi and Arthur and showed no signs that he’d paid any attention to the lesson.

“Besides, most people honestly don’t care if boys and girls spend time together,” continued Hiro. “Why I see it all the time, and it never causes any problems.”

Arthur looked between Hiro and Vivi. “Um…”

“If it would make you more comfortable, Vivi can find something else to do,” said Hiro. “However, I think it would do you some good to interact with children closer to your own age. You will be starting school within a few months after all.”

Arthur winced. “Y-Yes sir.”

Hiro smiled, because while it was small, it was still a step in the right direction. “Good. Come fetch me if your uncle wants to have a word, but otherwise I wish you a pleasant rest of the day.”

And then Hiro left and Vivi was alone with Arthur. That had been what she wanted so she could talk to Arthur, but well…she wasn’t sure she should. The poor boy kind of reminded her of the abused puppies shown in ASCPA commercials, like, like…

Like no one had ever loved or cared for him and he didn’t know how to react when someone did.

“Wanna pet Ben?” asked Vivi.

Arthur blinked. “Huh?”

Vivi started petting Ben. His tail wagged. “He likes to be pet, and it makes you feel better. Try it.”

Arthur hesitantly placed a hand between Ben’s ears and started scratching. Ben moved his head and licked Arthur’s other hand, causing him to jump a little. When Ben failed to do anything else Arthur returned to giving the happy dog scratches.

“It’s nice, right?” asked Vivi.

Arthur nodded. It was oddly relaxing. After a little while, Ben lifted his head and looked towards the door. A moment later there was a knock, and Lance opened the door. He studied them for a moment. “You ready to go?”

Arthur quickly grabbed the books and stood. “Yes sir!” He quickly walked over to the door.

“Bye Arthur! See you soon!” called Vivi.

Arthur winced but stayed silent as he and Lance went to Lance’s truck. He glanced as Lance started it up and waited for Lance to say something about what he’d walked in on.

“So, you like dogs?” asked Lance.

“I, uh, maybe? We didn’t have dogs. We were forbidden from having pets,” explained Arthur.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Figures. Seemed comfortable with that dog. What’s his name again?”

“Ben.”

“Ben’s a pretty big dog. I imagine you’d have been panickin’ if you didn’t at least like dogs,” continued Lance.

Arthur nodded nervously.

“Now, I would not have a problem if you got a smaller pet, but our apartment is probably too small for a dog, ‘specially one that big.”

What.

“And if you never had a pet before, you ought to start small. Maybe a gerbil or a hamster.”

“Are you offering to get me a pet?” Arthur questioned is disbelief.

Lance made a thinking sound. “Maybe once you settle down a bit more. A pet is a lot of responsibility, and right now you oughta focus on learning to live in…the outside world.” Lance had wanted to say the ‘real world’, but he thought Arthur might take offense.

Arthur was still surprised. “And you’re all right with that?”

Lance shrugged. “I sometimes consider getting somethin’ myself. Then I remember how busy I am,” he muttered. “Wouldn’t know what to get either. Not exactly the most…social person.”

Arthur nodded. He didn’t have many social skills either. It was different from Lance though. Whereas Lance just seemed to be stoic and blunt, Arthur worried about what everyone would think about him if he did even one thing wrong.

He was pretty sure he was doing a lot of things wrong.

…

Arthur wondered if he’d ever get the hang of this new life.


	12. Now a Trio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of middle school

It wasn’t just the start of a new school year. It was their first year of middle school, and Lewis and Sydney were both excited and nervous. On one hand, they were growing up, and their parents were discussing letting them walk home on their own. On the other hand, they didn’t share a lot of classes outside of social studies, English, and lunch. That was going to require a lot of changes in how they studied and did homework.

As they no longer had recess, they decided to make the most of their lunch hour by bringing lunch so they could skip the lines. There was just one small issue.

“I thought I was gonna make both our lunches,” said Lewis, who was holding two bags of lunch. He’d been learning how to cook and decided fixing their lunches would be the best way to get practice in.

Sydney held up her own bag. “You said you were going to make chicken!”

“I made a different dish for you!”

“That had to take forever!”

“How long do you think it takes to cook?” questioned Lewis. “It took me a couple of hours to make the chicken. It didn’t take as long to make yours, and I have leftovers for a couple of days.”

“I guess that helps, but you have homework. I don’t want you to exhaust yourself making food for both of us.” Sydney held up her bag, which was noticeably heavier than either of the bags Lewis had. “Plus, vegetarians have to eat a lot more than a normal diet.”

“Oh, don’t worry. There’s some shrimp in…” Lewis trailed off as she saw a bunch of nasty looking ghosts around a boy sitting by himself.

“Okay, the shrimp helps,” admitted Sydney. “But it sure sounds like those take a while to cook.” Sydney walked forward another couple of steps before realizing Lewis wasn’t following her. “Lewis? Is something wrong?”

Lewis swallowed. “That kid there.” He pointed towards the boy. “There’s some nasty ghosts around him.”

Sydney stared at the boy, unable to see the ghosts. “Oh. Okay. Let’s sit with him then.”

The two had come to realize that ghosts…didn’t like Sydney. The normal ones were more or less willing to tolerate her presence. Some of the less pleasant ghosts didn’t want to be around her at all. All ghosts absolutely hated being touched by her. Lewis was willing to admit he’d taken advantage of this a couple of times when something nasty had tried to follow him around. Of course, Sydney had been okay with it. It wasn’t like she’d had to do anything different.

Lewis guessed it wasn’t that surprising that Sydney was willing to sit with a complete stranger to keep something nasty away from him.

So that was why the two were sliding in across from the boy, who looked up at them in surprise. The ghosts had already fled. “Hi, I’m Sydney,” greeted Sydney. She gestured towards Lewis. “This is Lewis. Don’t be fooled by his size. He might be the size of a bear, but he’s just a teddy bear. Although teddy bears might just be baby bears. Eh, I think it can still apply ‘cause we’re still just kids. Better temper though. Like Baloo! Or Little John.” Sydney seemed to think for a second before. Nodding. “So what’s your name?”

“…I’m Arthur,” the boy answered with a slight accent.

“You have really cool hair,” said Sydney. “You look like an anime character. Do you cosplay? If you cosplay, I can introduce you to my dad. He makes costumes and accessories for cosplay. He makes Halloween costumes for Lewis and me every year. Way better than what you find in the stores.” Here Sydney had to pause to eat some of her lunch.

Arthur raised his hands towards his hair. “It’s…it’s always looked like this.”

Sydney’s eyes sparkled. “That is awesome! Are you a real life anime character? Is your life like an anime? Oh, wait, that might not be a good thing. Some of those characters have shitty backstories. Unless it’s some sort of comedy or maybe a slice of life series.” Sydney gave Arthur a serious look. “Which genre would you say applies to your life the most?”

Arthur was visibly overwhelmed. Lewis clapped a hand on Sydney’s shoulder. “Sydney, give him some room to breathe.”

Sydney stopped. “Oh. Oops.” Sydney gave Arthur a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I got carried away.”

Lewis gave Sydney a fond smile before turning it towards Arthur. “Sydney didn’t mean anything. She just talks about whatever comes to mind.”

“And I have ADHD so a lot of stuff pops up in my head!” proclaimed Sydney. “Also, I had to adjust my medication recently. It gets a little worse during adjustment.”

Arthur blinked a couple of times. “Okay…”

“So what grade are you in?” asked Lewis. “We’re in 6th grade.”

“First day in middle school ever!” added Sydney.

“Uh, 8th grade,” answered Arthur. “It’s, uh, uh, my first day too,” he said quietly.

“Huh?” Lewis and Sydney shared a confused look before something occurred to Lewis. “Oh, homeschool?” Arthur nodded in response.

“My parents thought about homeschooling me,” commented Sydney.

Lewis turned to Sydney in surprise. “What? When?”

“When I was really young. Before we moved here.” She smiled at Lewis. “Then we moved and you and your family helped me with school.” She winced. “Oof. Gonna have to get the hang of taking notes on my own now.”

“Your notes aren’t that bad.”

“I once doodled a superhero battle over my cheat sheet,” countered Sydney before whispering in aside to Arthur. “Daredevil won.”

“Who?” asked Arthur.

“Matt Murdock,” explained Sydney. “As a child, he shoved a blind man out of the way of a chemical truck. He saved the man, but the truck spilled chemicals in his eyes, making him go blind. But! They also made his other senses super strong, which he used to compensate for his loss of vision. He went on to become a defense lawyer by day and parkouring ninja vigilante by night!”

Arthur swallowed and looked down. “Vigilantism is illegal. He should know better.”

Sydney shrugged. “Yeah, well, if you heard or saw someone in trouble, you’d stop to help ‘em, right?” Arthur nodded. “Remember how I said Matt’s other senses were super strong?” Arthur nodded again. “Well, he can hear someone getting beat up over a block away. He could call the police, but it’s Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. It would take time for the police to get there, but Matt could get there pretty quickly with his skills. A few seconds can mean the difference between life and death.” And then the sudden seriousness melted away as she shrugged. “But it’s a comic book, just a bunch of writers having fun. You gotta suspend the disbelief a little. I mean, they also had a guy develop spider powers after getting bitten by a radioactive spider.”

Arthur nodded, looking thoughtful. “It should have given him cancer.”

“Besides, the point of comics and superheroes isn’t to teach you about law,” said Lewis. “It’s…Well, technically the point of them is to entertain people, but you also can learn life lessons from them. Like how deal with the death of a loved one.”

“Or how not to deal with the death of a loved one,” added Sydney.

“The emotional impact a simple act of kindness can have on someone having a bad day.”

“How your actions can impact more people than you’ll ever meet.”

“That things are never as bad as they seem.”

“How to live your life.”

“And some do teach you information about things like legends,” added Lewis.

“Huh, you know, it’s actually kind of hard to put it into words,” commented Sydney. “It just feels like if you let them, the stories told in comics can help shape you into a better person.” She frowned. “As long as they’re good comics. Some have pretty nasty stories. It would be bad if you took those to heart.”

“A lot of things that are made for fun are like that,” agreed Lewis. “You get pulled in by the bright lights and action and end up learning something important by the end of it. Personally, I think those are the best shows.” He grinned towards Sydney. “Or comics.” Sydney smiled back as Lewis turned to smile at Arthur. “Or videogames.”

Arthur blinked. “I…guess. I don’t have a lot of experience.”

“Really? Well, I guess comics aren’t for everyone,” admitted Sydney. “What about cartoons?”

“I…didn’t have comics…or television…or videogames…or fiction books,” admitted Arthur. Lewis and Sydney stared. “My…family was strict.”

“But it’s okay now?” asked Lewis. “You won’t get in trouble for talking about them with someone?”

Arthur shook his head. “I’m living with my uncle. He bought me comics and videos.”

“Anything you like so far?” asked Sydney.

Arthur shrugged. It was too new for him.

“I’m pretty fond of Sailor Moon personally,” said Lewis.

The rest of the lunch period was spent telling Arthur about Sailor Moon.


	13. Making Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur wants to spend more time with his new friends.

Arthur thought he may have made some friends.

There was Vivi who sat in on his religion lessons and then talked with him about them. Uncle Lance had even started picking him up later during the week. On the weekend, Arthur found himself spending a couple of hours talking about religion and then myths and then ghosts, and it felt so natural.

And then he started school. He should have entered in 7th grade, but the teachers told him that he tested high enough that he could skip a grade. Since Vivi was in 9th grade, that seemed like a good idea at the time. He didn’t think he’d make friends at school.

And then a couple of 6th graders sat at his table on the first day of school and spent the whole lunch speaking with him. And they did it the next day, and the next, and the rest of the week. Then the next week. Then they started meeting before lunch started. Then Lewis started bringing lunches for Arthur. Then Sydney started bringing comics and videos for Arthur to borrow.

And Arthur realized that he wanted to spend more time with them.

That was kind of tricky though. He spent most of his time after school learning from Mr. Yukino, and he didn’t really want to explain to Lewis and Sydney why he needed those lessons. They’d been so accepting so far, but he didn’t want to push them.

He guessed that they could maybe spend time with each other on the weekend, but he had no idea how to go about that. He guessed they’d spend time at someone’s house, but he didn’t know how to ask. Would their parents be all right with a strange kid spending time at their house?

Arthur only had one person he was comfortable with asking. “Vivi, how do you ask someone if they want to spend time with you?” he asked as soon as Mr. Yukino ended the religion lesson.

Vivi blinked and then grinned. “Arthur! Did you make a friend?”

“Maybe. Plural.”

Vivi squealed and gave him a hug. “Oh, I’m so proud of you! Talking to people and making friends!”

“They, uh, actually just sat at my table and wouldn’t leave,” admitted Arthur.

“But still, you talked to them. You didn’t leave or turn them away,” reasoned Vivi. “That’s wonderful!”

Arthur blushed. “I-thanks. I think?”

“So, what are they like?” asked Vivi. “C’mon details!”

“They…their names are Lewis and Sydney. They’re a boy and a girl. Lewis is really tall. Sydney’s small. Sydney talks about pretty much anything. Lewis adds to what she talks about. Sydney really likes comics. Lewis likes…Japanese cartoons.”

“Anime,” corrected Vivi. “Some people really take offense at calling anime Japanese cartoons.”

“Do you?” asked Arthur.

“Normally, yes,” admitted Vivi. “But you’re kind of a special case. You didn’t even know anime was a thing until a few months ago. Now, tell me more about these two.”

“Lewis likes cooking. Sometimes he’ll bring food for Sydney and I. Sydney says he should use his free time to have some fun, but Lewis says cooking is fun. He has to cook separate dishes for Sydney because she’s a vegetarian.” He grinned. “Sydney isn’t a very good cook.”

Vivi took a moment to memorize and appreciate the rare smile on Arthur’s face. “It sounds like you guys are getting close. Do I need to be jealous?” she teased.

Arthur’s smile was instantly wiped away and replaced with panic. “N-no! You’re my friend still! I just kind of want to be friends with them too!”

Vivi pat his back. “Relax. I’m joking. You can be friends with all three of us.” She grinned. “Actually, why don’t you bring them over here?”

“No!” Vivi and Ben both jumped at Arthur’s shout. He winced. “No, not yet. I’ll have to explain to them why I’m getting lessons from your dad, and I don’t want them to know about the…” Arthur swallowed. “It…It was a cult, wasn’t it?”

Whoa. That was the first time Arthur had ever acknowledged he’d been in a cult. At least around Vivi. He looked like he was about to cry. Vivi wrapped him up in a hug and rubbed his back for a bit. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re out of there. You’re safe. Nobody has to know about what happened to you if you don’t want them to.” She paused. Actually, if he really wanted to be friends with these two, he would probably have to tell them eventually. Maybe not now, maybe not even for a few years, but if Arthur didn’t want to lose their trust…he’d have to come clean. But for now, it was way too soon. “Is there any reason we can’t go to their houses or your uncle’s?”

Arthur sniffled. “There’s not room at the garage, and Uncle Lance will be working. And I’m a stranger. Their parents wouldn’t want me around their children without supervision, would they?”

Vivi chuckled. “Oh, Arthur, if that was an issue, no one would ever make any friends.” Her father had left them alone after all. “If it bothers you that much, you can ask if they want to meet up at the local arcade. I’ve been meaning to take you there anyway.”

“That’s where they have a bunch of videogame machines that you have to pay to play, right?” asked Arthur.

“Pretty much. Don’t worry. It’s pretty cheap,” reassured Vivi.

“Uncle Lance has been giving me…he called it an allowance. I don’t know why he’s giving me money.”

“Eh, some people make their kids do chores in exchange for spending money, and some just give ‘em money,” explained Vivi. “He might change that once you get more comfortable living with him and have more free time. Or if you really misbehave, but I can’t imagine you doing something bad enough to lose allowance privileges.”

“Um, well, I have money for that.” Honestly, Arthur hadn’t used any of the money Uncle Lance had been giving him. He didn’t have anything in particular he wanted to buy, and Uncle Lance was supplying him with everything he needed.

Vivi nodded. “Okay, so, just ask Lance for permission since you’ll have to go on the weekend or skip a class. Then ask Sydney and Lewis if they want to hang out outside of school.”

Arthur bit his lip. “What if they say no?”

“What if they say yes?” countered Vivi. “You gotta at least try.”

Arthur swallowed. “Right. You’re right. I’ll…I’ll talk to them about it.”

 

Arthur brought it up the next day before he could lose his nerve. “I want to hang out with you guys after school, but I don’t know if you’re allowed to have strangers over so we could go to an arcade, and maybe my other friend Vivi could come with us?”

Sydney and Lewis blinked at Arthur. “Wow, you talked even faster than me just now,” commented Sydney.

“Oh, uh, should I say it again?” asked Arthur. He wasn’t actually sure he could though…

“That’s okay. I think I got it,” said Lewis. He turned to Sydney. “Would you mind?”

“Nope, but how would that work?”

Lewis winced. “We’ll have to go to my house because I look after my little sister for my parents,” he explained. “I guess we could go to the arcade during the weekend if Sydney’s mom or dad wouldn’t mind looking after Belle.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay! I don’t mind going to your house,” said Arthur.

Lewis chuckled nervously. “Um, yeah, that’s, uh, because you don’t know. I live in a former funeral home.”

Arthur blinked. “Oh.”

“That’s got a cemetery right behind it,” continued Lewis.

“Oh…” Arthur was starting to get a bit nervous.

“It’s haunted,” interjected Sydney.

“The house or the cemetery?” asked Arthur.

Sydney nodded. “Yes.”

Lewis chuckled nervously. “I’ve lived there since I was a little kid, and Sydney’s been coming over for almost as long. It’s perfectly safe,” he reassured Arthur. “It just makes some people uncomfortable.”

Arthur nodded. Just hearing about it was making him uncomfortable. Plus, what sort of effect would he have on the haunting? What if he attracted something nasty? Or made the ghosts already there violent?

Sydney noticed the subject was bothering Arthur and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from the ghosts,” she promised.

Lewis nodded. “The ghosts are less active when Sydney’s around for some reason. We don’t know why.”  
Sydney leaned in close to Arthur. “I think they’re scared of me,” she whispered conspiratorially.

Arthur blinked and studied Sydney. She was smaller than usual, skinny, no muscle tone, had a large pair of glasses, and pretty much no attention span. She wasn’t that scary unless you were afraid of talking to people. Actually, she was kind of adorable when she wasn’t being overwhelming.

She’d definitely take offense to that.

“I…” Arthur took a deep breath. “Vivi likes ghosts,” he admitted.

“Oh, right Vivi. You’ve mentioned her a few times,” said Lewis. “She’s a few years older, right?”

“She’s 14,” clarified Arthur.

“Okay, that might be a bit iffy,” admitted Lewis. “But I’ll ask my parents if she can come too. I’ll let you know what they say.”

Sydney’s hand shot into the air. “And I’ll bring videogames and comics and videos and DVDs! Maybe we’ll find something new you like!”

Arthur nodded. “Right…Thank you.” He couldn’t quite bring himself to say how much it meant to him.

He hoped they saw it anyway.


	14. Finally Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All four kids spend time together watching TV.

Vivi ran up and rang the doorbell. Arthur and Ben had just caught up when Lewis opened the door. “Hi Arthur.” His gaze averted towards Vivi. “And you must be Vivi.” His eyes dropped to Ben. “Ah. You didn’t mention anything about a dog.”

Arthur facepalmed. He knew he was forgetting something.

“Don’t worry. Ben’s very well behaved,” said Vivi. “Plus, he’ll let us know if any ghosts show up!”

“We’re not gonna see any ghosts while Sydney’s around,” Lewis said matter-of-factly. He still moved aside so they could come in. “We’re watching anime in the living room. Don’t get too loud. Belle’s not sleeping, but I don’t wanna startle her.”

The walked a few feet to the living room. Sydney was playing peek-a-boo with a giggling baby while an anime with girls running around in indecently short skirts were fighting a monster. Arthur quickly averted his eyes.

“Fluffy doggy!” And Sydney was suddenly dashing towards them.

Lewis intercepted her, grabbed her, spun them in a circle, and flung her over his should as she giggled. “C’mon, you know you shouldn’t surprise dogs like that.”

Sydney pouted and made grabby motions towards Ben. “But the fluffy…”

Arthur glanced towards Ben and was surprised to find the dog had recoiled and looked like he was trying to make himself look smaller and…was he scared?

Vivi gave Ben a confused look too. “Ben? You okay?”

Sydney winced. “Oh shit. Did I scare him? I’m sorry doggy!”

Lewis set Sydney on the ground. Ben inched forward a bit. “Hold your hand out,” suggested Vivi. Sydney listened. Ben sniffed cautiously at her hand. After a moment, he licked at her hand. Then he pushed pressed his head into the palm of her hand. Sydney giggled and pet him. Vivi smiled. “That’s better. He usually doesn’t startle very easily…”

Lewis grabbed Arthur’s hand. “Come meet Belle.”

Arthur let himself get dragged over to where the baby was starting to make crying sounds. She calmed down as Lewis came into sight. “Arthur, Belle. Belle, Arthur.”

Belle held her hands up towards Lewis, seemingly not caring about Arthur. Lewis carefully picked her up, holding her like she was the most precious and fragile thing in the world.

Arthur guessed that’s what she was to Lewis. “She’s…small.”

Lewis chuckled. “You should have seen her when she was a newborn.”

Right she would have been even smaller then, wouldn’t she?

“Would you like to hold her?”

Arthur blinked and studied Belle, who was rapidly falling asleep. He’d never been around a baby before, not even his younger siblings. He wasn’t entirely sure how to act around them outside of being careful and quiet.

Belle was…new. And helpless. She had to depend on others whether she wanted to or not, and honestly she probably didn’t know any better. She had pretty much no experience when it came to life. Innocent and blissful.

And his hands were covered in blood.

“No!”

Lewis gave him a startled look, and Arthur realized that definitely wasn’t a normal reaction. Thankfully, Vivi came to his rescue. “He’s got some weird phobias,” said Vivi, which was technically true. “Very personal. He probably still hasn’t told me all of them.”

Arthur nodded. “I’m a mess.”

“So, Arthur’s odd fear of infants aside…” Vivi pulled out a ouija board and a camera. “We can do ghost photos, watch tv, or play videogames.”

Lewis narrowed his eye. “You are not using a ouija board in here.”

Sydney shrugged. “It probably wouldn’t work anyway.”

“Please don’t summon any angry ghosts,” added Arthur.

“I’d put up protections,” protested Vivi, but she put away her ‘supplies’. “So…I guess that leaves tv and videogames.”

“Do you mind if we stick to tv?” asked Lewis. “I kind of want to keep my hands free.” He shifted Belle in his arms a bit.

Arthur glanced towards the TV and winced. “Can we watch something else? Their clothing seems…improper.”

Sydney snorted. Lewis gave her a deadpan look. “I didn’t say anything.” Sydney grinned and pulled out several DVDs and videos from somewhere. “I got all sorts of awesome shows!”

Arthur stared at the various children shows in Sydney’s hands. “Um…” He glanced toward Lewis, who wasn’t making a move. He glanced toward Vivi, who was looking at him expectantly. He looked at Sydney, who was still grinning. He pointed at a random cover. “That one.”

Sydney turned it around to see what he’d chosen. “Ooh. Batman. Good choice.”

Batman? “That’s a comic, right?”

“They can turn comics into cartoons,” Sydney said nonchalantly. “I got Spider-man, the X-Men, and Superman too,” she said nonchalantly as she ejected a video and put in the Batman video. She then dragged him onto the couch as they all sat down.

Arthur…wasn’t sure how he felt about Batman. The man was obviously meant to be highly trained, even if he didn’t move quite right (Animation limits?). Vivi, Lewis, and Sydney made a bunch of ninja comments. He fought mostly normal people, a few super powered people.

It reminded Arthur a little too much of what he’d been trained to do before…before Tempo.

Arthur suspected he was going to be splitting his life into Before Tempo and After Tempo.

“I’m not sure I like Batman,” Arthur decided. The man used fear as a weapon. That was only possible because of his implied training.

Sydney pointed to her shows. “We can watch something else.”

“How ‘bout Scooby-Doo? I love that show,” said Vivi.

The videos were switched and they watched the old cartoon instead. Arthur decided it was much preferable. It had scary monsters, but they were all men (or women) in masks. Not real. Just a bunch of teenagers running around and solving mysteries that Arthur felt were needlessly complicated. “Why do they bother pretending to be monster? Most of these guys could get away with whatever they’re trying to do if they would just lay low.”

“That would make more sense,” agreed Vivi. “I’m honestly not sure why the police don’t investigate them more. Play some ghost noises to keep away anyone paranoid and that ought to be enough for most people.”

“Maybe ghosts are a fact of life in this universe,” said Sydney. “So when they see the monsters, they just go ‘Oh, looks like we’ve got a monster. Better stay away so we don’t get eaten.’ Oh! Or maybe people have been pulling this sort of stunt for so long that it’s just become a fact of life, and people are only just now are figuring out that most of these are guys in masks, and the Scooby gang is one of the inadvertent forerunners in the start of this new age!”

Everyone stared at Sydney as she finished coming up with her impromptu theory. “Welp, that’s another fanfiction idea,” commented Lewis.

“I’d go with the first one,” said Vivi. “There are some movies that actually have ghosts and monsters.”

“Oh yeah…” Sydney pulled out another video with Shaggy and Scooby in a cauldron with Frankenstein’s bride and a little mummy girl standing next to it. “The Ghoul School!”

“Do you have Boo Brothers and the Reluctant Werewolf?” asked Vivi.

Lewis nodded. “Those were fun.”

“I’d have to ask Dad, but I think so,” said Sydney. “They show on Cartoon Network all the time though so I might be mixing ‘em up.”

“Wait. These are movies?” Arthur glanced between the Ghoul School cover and the tv. “This show has movies?”

“Yep, several,” answered Vivi. “They still release new movies and episodes regularly, although the setting is adjusted for modern times and I think they might be doing reboots.”

“It’s a well loved show, and the people who watched it as kids grew up and still loved it and wanted to be a part of it,” added Lewis. “I’m sure we’d all do the same with the shows we love if we had the chance.”

Sydney cackled. “Oh fu-dge yeah!” She pulled a small notebook out from her back pocket. “I have ideas!” She opened it to a random point and Arthur could see a picture of Spider-man kissing some lady in a black suit. “Spider-man and Black Widow! They don’t have anything in common yet, but you could have them run into each other and then start hanging out and then start dating!”

Arthur had no idea what Sydney was talking about. Who was Black Widow?

“I don’t think it’s quite the same thing,” said Lewis. “Scooby Doo doesn’t have a lot of background information so you can do a lot of original stuff with it. Spider-man and the other Marvel comics have a lot of backstory, so it would be tricky to make something like your idea work without radically changing things.” He grinned. “Plus, I like him and Mary Jane as a couple.”

Sydney paused and nodded. “True. Peter and Mary Jane are a tried and true couple. Spider-man/Black widow can be a What-If issue.” Sydney paused and then grinned. “Or…Mary Jane can be Black Widow.”

Arthur was so lost. Lewis glanced at him before turning to the TV. “Maybe we can watch Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School after this,” suggested Lewis.

“Sounds good to me,” said Sydney. “Oh! Don’t say anything. We don’t wanna spoil anything for Arthur.” She giggled. “Plus, I kinda wanna see your face.”

Arthur blinked at everyone else’s grins and wondered if he should be worried.

In the middle of the next episode, Belle started whining. Lewis took a moment to try and calm her and check her over. “I’m pretty sure she’s hungry,” he concluded.

Sydney jumped off the couch. “I’ll get it.” She ran to the kitchen.

Arthur watched with fascination as Lewis worked on calming Belle. From what he remembered of his family, his younger siblings had mostly been left on their own when they cried unless they needed to be changed or fed.

…Lewis was probably doing a better job than Arthur’s parents.

Sydney came back in with a bottle of formula that she handed to Lewis. Lewis started feeding Belle.

…Lewis and Sydney were probably doing a better job than Arthur’s parents, and Sydney was…Sydney.

How could two adults be worse at taking care of a child than two middle school students?

It made Arthur feel just a bit bitter. And then Ben decided to plop his head onto Arthur’s lap. Arthur took advantage of it to pet Ben until he felt better.

“Time for Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School!” proclaimed Vivi as the episode they were watching ended. She shot up, switched the videos, and sat back down with a grin directed towards Arthur that made him feel very nervous.

The movie started innocently enough. “Where are Fred, Daphne, and Velma?”

Vivi shrugged. “College, I guess.”

“Or getting started on their own careers,” added Sydney.

Something about this made Arthur uncomfortable. He ignored it. “Who’s the talking puppy?”

“Scrappy Doo, Scooby’s nephew,” explained Lewis.

“How come he can talk more clearly than Scooby?” asked Arthur.

“Maybe Scooby just has a bad lisp?” suggested Sydney.

“And how come he’s walking around on his hind legs?” continued Arthur.

“I think Scooby’s too top heavy to do that for more than a few moments,” reasoned Vivi. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Scrappy lost the ability when he got older.”

And that was good enough for the moment…and then they reached the premise of the movie.

“It’s a school for monsters?!” Arthur shouted, startling the others on the couch. “Why is there a school for monsters?!”

“I guess their dads couldn’t homeschool them,” reasoned Sydney.

“But-but-aren’t they dangerous?!” Belle started whining, and Lewis and Sydney hushed Arthur.

“Well, not necessarily,” said Vivi. “Let’s take a look. Vampires survive off of human blood. Obviously, that would make them predators, but they don’t necessarily have to completely drain a person. They can just take a small amount from several different people, and honestly, it’s not clear how much they need to survive. They might not need all that much, and they could find willing donors. The only problem would be if the bite itself transforms someone into a vampire, but that’s a modern invention. Even if there were side effects from the bite, modern technology would let you remove blood without needing to bite someone.

“Frankenstein type monsters are actually pretty misunderstood. In the original novel, the monster, he was named Adam by the way, was just as intelligent as a person, had emotions and empathy. He tried to find human friends, but was rejected for how he looked. Any violence he exhibited was mostly in self-defense with some violence towards his creator, who pretty much abandoned him, so I can’t blame him for being upset.

“Werewolves are a bit tricky since the transformation varies. Some have to do with making a deal with the devil, which is obviously a bad thing, some with not attending mass for seven years, which seems unlikely considering the various religions in the world, and getting bitten by another werewolf, which would make it a disease. You don’t shame someone for having a disease because that’s not something you have control over. The main problem is that they’re violent when they transform and can spread the disease, but most don’t want to be violent and isolate themselves to keep from hurting anyone.

“Mummies aren’t inherently evil. In fact, mummies coming back to life is a recent idea thanks to movies, so I don’t think they’re an actual type of monster you’d run into. However, I imagine that if you did, they would behave the same as they had when alive, and, well, I guess there might be some differences in morality due to culture, but they should still be decent.

“Ghosts are more often than not harmless but capable of affecting their environment and scaring people. Not that they can’t harm the living. That’s just pretty rare. A lot of the time, they behave as they did in life, but some are influenced by how they died, which can make them angrier, sadder, or more frightened than they were when they were alive.

“Anyway, you got good monsters and bad monsters, just like you do humans,” finished Vivi. It was at this moment she realized everyone was staring at her, including Ben and Belle. “This is the sort of stuff I like.”

Sydney held up a hand. “I hear ya!” Vivi returned the high five.

“You sure know a lot about monsters,” commented Lewis. “Is that why you wanted to try and talk to the ghosts in the house?”

Vivi nodded. “I’ve never actually seen a ghost or anything like that before, but I really want to! I want to become a paranormal investigator so I can see all sorts of ghosts and monsters!”

“That would make an awesome comic book!” commented Sydney.

“But that’s dangerous!” said Arthur. “What if you run into something awful? And you get possessed?! Or what if someone hurts you?! What if you die?!”

“What if we’re in a car crash or fall down the stairs or get mugged or get bitten by a dog?” Sydney suddenly said. She glanced towards Ben. “No offense.”

Ben let out a huff.

“I think Sydney’s trying to say that all sorts of things could happen to you every day,” explained Lewis. “If you worry and try to avoid everything, you won’t be living much of a life.” Sydney nodded.

Arthur thought about that. If he wanted to avoid everything dangerous…Well, considering Sydney’s list he’d have to stay inside all the time. That would drive him crazy. “Okay, but…” Arthur turned towards Vivi. “Don’t do anything really dangerous, okay?”

Vivi nodded. “Yeah, Dad wouldn’t let me go on my own anyway. I’d need to get a few other people to go with me, preferably someone with experience.” She grinned at Sydney and Lewis. “You two interested?”

Lewis and Sydney stared at Vivi for a moment before exchanging looks. They turned back to Vivi. “Sure,” they both said.

“Whoa! Really?” asked Vivi. She hadn’t expected them to say yes.

“I’m kind of interested in ghosts too,” explained Lewis. “But only ghosts. I’ve never paid attention to the rest of that supernatural stuff.”

“I wanna learn magic!” proclaimed Sydney with stars in her eyes.

Arthur frowned. “I’m not sure how I feel about magic.”

“It’s science we don’t yet understand!” said Sydney. “Or at least my dad said something like that while pretending to be The Doctor.”

Arthur frowned. “Doctor who?”

Sydney laughed. “Exactly!”

“Huh?”

“What about you Arthur?” asked Vivi. “I know you and the supernatural don’t get along, but I wouldn’t want to leave you out.”

Sydney suddenly hugged Arthur, making him jump. “I can keep the ghosts away!”

Lewis nodded. “She’s really good at that for some reason.”

Vivi frowned in interest. They’d made references to ghosts not liking Sydney a couple of times before. “Do you have some sort of power that affects ghosts?”

Sydney and Lewis exchanged another couple of looks. It was kind of amazing how they could have a conversation without actually saying anything. “I scare ghosts for some reason,” admitted Sydney. “I’ve punched a couple by accident since I can’t see ‘em.”

What.

“That…” Vivi frowned in thought. “Well, it would definitely be good for keeping people safe or getting rid of negative entities, but it might hinder the actual investigation. You won’t get any evidence of ghosts if the ghosts have all been scared off.”

“You…You scare ghosts away?” Arthur was having trouble believing it, but when he thought about it…

Nothing strange ever happened when he was around Sydney and Lewis. In fact, a lot less happened when he was at school with them. He’d just been thankful that no one had found out about his tendency to attract ghosts and the like and hadn’t stopped to wonder if there was a reason for it.

“Y-You’ve been keeping away ghosts that hurt me this whole time.”

Sydney nodded. “Yep!”

Vivi frowned. “But how would you know about that in the first place? You just said you have no sensing ability whatsoever.”

Sydney froze up. “Er…” She gave Lewis a nervous look. “Help?”

Lewis sighed in resignation. “I’m a medium.”

Vivi gasped. “Really?! How strong is your sensory ability? Which senses do you use? Do you have any empathic abilities? Is it connected to growing up in a haunted house?”

Lewis blinked at the assault of questions. “Yes, I’m not sure how strong, I think all my senses, I don’t think I’m empathic, and I don’t think it has anything to do with this house. I was a medium before the Peppers adopted me.”

“You’re adopted?” questioned Vivi. “I guess you wouldn’t know if it runs in the family then.”

Sydney blinked in surprise. “That can happen?”

Arthur finally got the nerve to talk. “Did you see ghosts when you started sitting with me?”

Lewis winced and nodded.

“Is that the only reason you sat with me?” asked Arthur.

“Well, the first day, yeah,” admitted Sydney. “But just the first day. We liked hanging out with you. I mean…We could’ve just sat on the other side of the table and not said anything to you.” She nervously started messing with her glasses. “But, well, I’d understand if you were upset because that’s sort of an ulterior motive. Not that it’s a bad ulterior motive! At least I don’t think it is.”

“What Sydney means is that we’d like to think we’re friends now,” explained Lewis. “You don’t always plan to become friends with someone, and I think that’s a good thing because that means you get along and like each other enough for it to just happen.”

“So…You planned to keep me safe and ended up becoming my friends?” questioned Arthur. That…actually didn’t seem too bad. The two hadn’t wanted to take advantage of him in any way. They’d just seen someone in trouble and decided to help. He smiled. “Thank you. I don’t think I would have made any friends otherwise.”

Sydney slapped his back. “Hey, come on! You’re a cool guy!”

Arthur’s heart twinged. He considered correcting Sydney, but he didn’t think he was quite ready for that. Instead he shook his head. “I attract ghosts and monsters. Most people are scared away.”

Sydney frowned. “That sucks.”

Lewis frowned. “Are you a medium too? It sounds like ghosts are attracted to that sort of thing.”

Arthur shook his head. “I attracts ghosts, but I can’t detect them at all unless they’re visible to the general population. That happens a lot more often around me though. I think I might be giving them power boosts, which is probably part of the reason they’re drawn to me in the first place.”

Vivi made a thinking sound and looked between Arthur and Sydney. “You know…your powers are pretty much complete opposites. They might cancel each other out.”

Arthur thought about not having to deal with ghosts anymore. “That would be nice.”

“I don’t think it works quite like that,” argued Lewis. “The nastier stuff stays away when Sydney’s around, but more normal ghosts still stick around. They just usually keep their distance.”

Sydney nodded. “You’re the expert.”

Vivi hummed. “Have you seen any ghosts today?”

“Kurt. He’s a little boy.” Lewis nodded towards the stairs. “He’s watching us and the shows through the railing.” He noticed that Arthur was looking nervous. “Don’t worry. Kurt’s harmless. The most he’ll do is hang onto your clothes.”

Vivi squealed happily. “That’s amazing!”

“You’re okay with being able to see stuff like that?” asked Arthur.

Lewis shrugged. “I’ve never not been able to see them. This is normal for me. It does get scary sometimes, but we’ve learned some tricks.”

Sydney shrugged. “I’ve never been scared of any of this stuff.” Maybe if she could see these sorts of things…Then again knowing that she was effectively living ghost repellant seemed to dampen the impact of anything that might be considered scary, including ghost movies. Like how bulletproof skin would make you less afraid of guns, but not completely fearless because other people can get shot. Especially if bullets ricochet off your skin.

Hm…Would she need to worry about ricochet? Ghosts and bullets were two very different things.

As Sydney mused on the nature of her odd ability, Belle started whining again. Lewis started bouncing her and checked her. “She needs a change. I’ll be right back.”

“Um, so…What do you do when you’re looking for ghosts?” asked Arthur. He didn’t really want to go hunting for ghosts, but they’d probably end up coming to him anyway. Might as well get it over with. Besides, he could probably stick close to Sydney.

Vivi smiled. “Well, we take precautions, like holy water, protective talismans, warding, that sort of thing. Then you set up cameras and microphones. Someone might be watching and listening to those. Then you wander around in an organized manner to see if you can come across anything unusual, possibly with camcorders. It helps if you have a medium. After you decide you’ve been there long enough, you head home and review the footage and recordings for anything unusual. Then you take everything unusual that happens and try to explain it rationally, like wind, gas leak, vibrations, that sort of thing. You’d be surprised what can make someone hallucinate. Then if you have something you can’t explain, you have a ghost! Then you gotta figure out what to do about the ghost. Some you can leave, some you can’t. It varies.”

Sydney raised a hand. “Question! Why can’t we just have Lewis look around and tell us if there are any ghosts hanging around? I’d even give him space!”

“She has a point,” noted Arthur. “Especially if…if I was near Lewis.” He wouldn’t like it, but he’d had to put up with worse.

“Yeah, that would make things faster, but we’d need physical proof for whoever hired us so we’d need footage or audio,” explained Vivi. “Plus, what if the ghost decided not to talk to Lewis? Some are pretty crafty.”

“You sure know a lot about this stuff,” commented Sydney as she reached over to pet Ben.

Vivi puffed up proudly. “I come from a very long line of paranormal investigators.”

“That explains so much,” deadpanned Arthur. He’d been wondering why Vivi’s father was actually teaching her this sort of stuff and kept ghost photographs…and martial arts? “Wait. Why do you need to know how to fight if you’re dealing with ghosts?”

Vivi shrugged. “Dad says that you run into something physical enough that it’s a good idea.”

“What’s a good idea?” asked Lewis as he sat back down with a much calmer Belle.

“We’re gonna be ninjas!” Sydney proclaimed happily.

Lewis blinked. “Huh?”

“Vivi’s family does paranormal investigating, and they sometimes run into…actual monsters?” That made Arthur nervous.

Vivi nodded. “Basically, and ninja is a good way to explain some of my ancestors.”

“Cool” squealed Sydney.

“That is pretty cool!” agreed Lewis before frowning. “I don’t think I have the right body type for that though.”

The other three kids and Ben turned to look at Lewis. Taller than some adults already, broad shouldered, starting to build up noticeable muscle. The kind of guy you’d expect to see on the football or wrestling team. Unless you were one of his friends, in which case you would expect to find him in the manga or cooking club.

“Well, I’m not very good at ninja stuff either,” admitted Vivi. “Although if you’re interested maybe you guys can learn a bit of basic self-defense at least.”

“That would be awesome!” declared Sydney.

“We usually spend the day after school here so I can look after Belle,” said Lewis. “I guess maybe one of my parents could take the afternoon off.”

“You could bring her with you,” suggested Arthur. “Vivi’s grandmother lives with them and is retired, and Mrs. Yukino is there some days. They wouldn’t mind, right?” Arthur asked Vivi.

“Mom would love to take care of Belle for an afternoon,” said Vivi.

Lewis thought for another moment before turning to Arthur. “What sort of teacher is Mr. Yukino?”

“He’s tough and pushes you so you’ll grow, but he’s fair,” said Arthur. “I think learning a bit from him would be a good idea. Even if you don’t need to fight a ghost, it could come in handy if you ever get into trouble with a living person.” They wouldn’t be learning how to kill after all. All in all, pretty reasonable.

Lewis looked a bit thoughtful. Sydney elbowed him. “C’mon, this sounds fun.”

Lewis glanced at Sydney before nodding with a smile. “Okay, we’ll give it a try.”

Vivi grinned. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”


	15. Coincidence?

Vivi got home looking pleased. “Did you get to see one of the ghosts?” asked Hiro.

“No, but guess what?” Vivi grinned up at him. “Arthur’s friends are a medium and a…I’m not sure how to describe Sydney, but she’s some sort of living ghost repellant.”

Hiro blinked. “Is that so? That’s rather unusual. Are you sure?”

Vivi shrugged. “Pretty sure. And they said they’d investigate with us! Them and Arthur! Can you show us? We can investigate the cemetery and Lewis’ house so you can teach ‘em what to do. Maybe go to a few local places.”

Hiro nodded. “They will need their parents’ permission first.”

Vivi nodded. “And Sydney and Lewis thought they could learn how to fight a bit. Wait until you meet them. Sydney is tiny and hyper, but I think she’s smarter than she lets on, and she’s kind of adorable. And Lewis is huge!”

Hiro nodded. “They sound interesting. I would like to meet them.”

Vivi continued to go on about her day for several moments before Hiro excused himself to his study, Ben trailing behind him. Hiro removed his old short sword from its place on the wall and flicked the first couple of inches out of the sheath. “Did Sydney and Lewis really have powers?”

Ben nodded. “They did, pretty powerful too. They’d get stronger with training.”

“And what are the chances another two children with strong abilities around Vivi’s age would be living in Tempo?” asked Hiro.

“It’s unlikely, but also not that surprising,” said Ben. “People like Sydney usually have their powers overwhelm their sensory abilities, leaving them unable to detect anything that would make them realize they have any sort of spiritual power in the first place. On the other hand, when someone like Lewis finds someone like Sydney, they instinctively will stay within a close proximity since doing so provides them with protection.” Ben hummed thoughtfully. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if powers like Sydney’s are more common than we realize, and we only notice when they become particularly strong or happen to accidentally interfere with a spell or ability. After all, it sounds like Sydney’s been living in Tempo for several years, and I had no idea until today.”

Hiro nodded. “That does make a sort of sense I have to admit.”

“Lewis is a bit unusual. He’s adopted, and says he’s always ben able to see ghosts, suggesting he was born with the ability.” Ben frowned. “Even if we have people like Sydney hypothetically common, that means three people with significant abilities in a single location. Two could be coincidence. Three is odd enough that I have to wonder if someone is manipulating events somehow. And if people like Sydney are rare, you have four people with odd abilities, which almost certainly means that someone is pulling strings somewhere.”

Hiro sighed. “How high up?”

Ben thought a moment. “If I can’t find any evidence of manipulations, it’ll be too high up for us to do anything about it until they make a move.”

So this could be anything from an enormous coincidence to some sort of deity messing with these children’s lives to bring them together. Hiro’s features hardened. “Then we’ll have to be sure they’ll be able to defend themselves.”


	16. Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids learn some of the basics of ghost hunting.

It took a surprisingly short time to set up the first faux investigation at Lewis’s house.

“We have a limited number of cameras for recording video so we have to determine the best locations for them. Where would you say the activity is the most concentrated?” asked Hiro.

“My room, but that’s probably just because it’s my room,” said Lewis.

Hiro nodded. “A bit iffy, but reasonable. We can leave a camera in there, but I’ll need permission from your parents for it to run overnight.”

“Don’t forget the basement,” suggested Frigg from the kitchen. “Whatever’s down there is unpleasant enough that we put off going down there until Sydney’s around.”

“I knew it,” muttered Sydney.

“Was that where the bodies were prepared?” asked Hiro.

Frigg shrugged. “I’m not sure. We’re not the first people to live here, and one of the former occupants must have cleared everything out.”

“We’ll place one or two cameras in the basement and save the last in case we find something notable during the investigations,” decided Hiro. “You can also set up a few things ahead of time. I like stretching very fine and fragile thread across doorways and laying out a layer of powder on the floor, usually flour. We won’t be doing that this time, as I don’t think Lewis’ parents would appreciate the mess, but can anyone tell me what purpose these serve?”

“Should I answer?” asked Vivi.

“Let’s wait and give the others a chance to see if they can come up with anything,” said Hiro.

“To trip people?” asked Sydney.

“Bit of the opposite,” said Hiro.

“Ghosts would go through the thread, but people would break it?” asked Arthur.

Hiro nodded. “Correct. It will help you figure out if any activity in the room was due to a ghost or a human. Now, what do you think about the flour?”

“Footprints?” suggested Lewis.

Hiro nodded. “Yes. Humans and animals leave footprints. Ghosts don’t. In addition, air currents could shift them letting you know that there is a draft or something similar. You might learn or come up with additional tricks to help you out. There are all sorts of techniques.” Hiro paused to pull out a large sheet of paper, which he unfolded to show a complicated looking circle with various symbols and kanji along it. “This is a protective circle. It’s a good idea to set one up so that if you run into something particularly nasty you can retreat to a safe location to regroup. They aren’t full proof though. It’s best to find some way to escape.”

“Why is it so small?” asked Sydney.

“Because this is the biggest piece of paper I could find,” deadpanned Hiro. “They’re normally a lot larger to fit several people inside.” Ben barked. “And animals as well.”

“Not a lot of investigators use animals,” said Vivi. “But we’ve got Ben.”

“Animals are much more sensitive to spiritual presences than most humans, and dogs are often protective of their family. They’ll do whatever they can to keep you alive,” explained Hiro. He nodded to Lewis. “You’re at least as sensitive, probably more so, but the rest of the children can’t detect anything on their own yet.”

Sydney perked up. “Yet?”

“Ah. My family has a history of spiritual powers that manifest in our teens or early adulthood,” explained Hiro. “I have some sensory abilities myself, and I expect Vivi will someday as well.”

“It’s taking forever though,” muttered Vivi.

“There are also items I suggest you keep on you at all times: Holy water, salt, smudge sticks, pepper spray. That incudes you Sydney. We don’t know how your power works exactly, so I would rather you be safe rather than sorry.”

Sydney nodded. “So, now what?”

“Now, I show you how to set up the cameras.”

The quick demonstration and lecture went a bit over Sydney and Lewis’ head, but Arthur seemed to understand the procedure.

“Now, usually, you would have one member of the group watch the monitors for anything out of the ordinary.” Hiro nodded to Sydney. “No offense meant Sydney, but since you seem to scare away ghosts you would likely be the one on the monitors a good portion of the time.”

“Aw…”

“But not tonight,” continued Hiro. “This is just for practice, and we already know the house and cemetery are haunted. No reason to try and draw ghosts out.”

“Is that something we have to do?” asked Arthur.

“Don’t worry. It’s only small things,” said Hiro. “Asking if anyone is there, saying you mean no harm, simple nonthreatening things to catch their attention.”

“It’s harmless,” added Vivi.

“Usually. Which is why you have to watch what you say,” said Hiro. Couldn’t have her thinking there was no risk. He wanted her to have a long life. “Now, we’ll be moving to the cemetery. Everyone has their religious symbols?” The kids held up necklaces with religious symbols, mostly Christian and Shinto. “Good, always keep them on you during an investigation. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep them on hand during daily life as well.”

“Dinner will be ready before too long,” interjected Frigg.

“We won’t be gone for too long,” reassured Hiro.

Five minutes later, they were in the cemetery. Hiro could see the ghosts watching them curiously. “Usually, you wander around a bit, maybe focusing on any graves belonging to known ghosts or having a connection to the investigation.”

Lewis raised a hand. “Um, a lot of them look haunted to me.”

Hiro nodded. “They probably always will. You’ll need to do some research beforehand to determine which gravestones to focus on. I usually start by asking locals, looking up newspaper articles to determine how accurate their accounts are, and going through records to see how possible it is.”

“That’s a lot of homework,” said Sydney.

Hiro had to chuckle a bit at that. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it.” He took out a camera. “Now, we’ll take a few pictures as we walk around since ghosts sometimes show up in photos.”

Arthur perked up. “Oh! That’s a pretty new model!”

Hiro nodded. “I prefer digital cameras. Some insist film works better, but personally I feel the two are equally effective, but digital cameras provide certain advantages. You can take more pictures. This is important because I recommend taking at least three pictures in quick succession. If the same odd phenomena appear in all three pictures with trackable progression, it’s probably a trick of the camera or a light reflection. It it’s only in one, it could be supernatural. You’ll need to examine it further to be sure. If you do use up all the space on a camera, you can go back and delete any that you’re sure have no supernatural evidence. The only downside is that there are no negatives and skeptics might claim you photoshopped something. Not much you can do about that.”

Hiro took a moment to take three quick shots of a grave where a young man’s ghost was floating. “Now, let’s see what we’ve got.”

All three photos were completely normal. Lewis looked between them and the ghost in confusion. “I had some warning,” said the ghost.

Hiro nodded. “Ghosts can prevent photo artifacts if they concentrate.” Hiro wasn’t entirely sure how they did this.

Ben walked over to a seemingly random grave and started pawing at it while the ghost floating about it pet him. Hiro took a few more pictures. “Ah. Looks like I got something this time.” He lowered the camera so the children could see the wisps of smoke in one of the pictures. “It’s not very impressive, but most ghost photos aren’t. If you get a clear figure, then there’s a good chance it’s a fake. Not that there aren’t genuine ghost photos that manage to capture clear figures, but that’s pretty rare since they usually require a powerful ghost or a ghost willingly expending large amounts of energy, which most won’t do for the sake of self-preservation.” The children nodded along. Good.

They spent another few minutes wandering around taking pictures and using a recording device to hopefully record answers to harmless questions such as ‘What is your name?’ or ‘Why are you here?’ “I think that’s enough,” declared Hiro.

Arthur looked relieved (Not that Hiro could blame him. Several of the ghosts had decided to follow him around.). Lewis and Sydney looked happy enough with their activities. Vivi looked annoyed. “That’s it? We hardly did anything!”

Hiro shrugged. “It’s not a real investigation. We’re not trying to figure anything else. You’re just learning the basics, and your friends are younger than you and will have to go to bed at an earlier time.”

“I miss our sleepovers,” muttered Lewis.

“Besides, the Peppers looked like they were almost done cooking, and I’d rather we didn’t keep them waiting,” finished Hiro. The mention of food caught Vivi and Ben’s attention. He knew that would work. The two ate so much it was next to impossible to not distract them with the promise of food.

Thankfully, the Peppers had produced enough food for an extra dozen people…and had made a few servings of less spicy food. Arthur was visibly relieved. “Thank you so much.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. We know not everyone enjoys spicier food so we’ve learned to make less potent portions when we have guests over,” explained Frigg.

“I think I will be taking some of that as well,” said Hiro. He didn’t mind spicy, but this smelled overwhelmingly so.

Ben was trying to beg food from Savina. “No.” She was completely unmoved. Looks like Ben was going to be sneaking food away. Hiro hoped he’d be able to come up with an excuse for the missing food.


	17. It's not Karate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, it's not.

“You’re actually going to take martial arts lessons?” asked Arthur.

The question was kind of redundant since they were at the dojo wearing a pair of gis that Mr. Yukino had given them. Sydney seemed rather distracted by the sleeves for some reason so Lewis answered. “Yeah! They always look so amazing in the anime we watch!”

Arthur blinked. “Is that a normal reason to learn martial arts?”

Sydney nodded. “Sure! Who wouldn’t want to be a Power Ranger?”

“Th-I don’t think that’s a real job,” said Arthur. “At least I hope not. I don’t want giant monsters and robots running around and smashing stuff.”

“Huh, you know, I never realized how much damage those fights do,” mused Lewis. “How do they pay for them?”

“Maybe they have a special fund and tax for it?” suggested Sydney. “Or really good insurance. Or all of the above.”

That was when Mr. Yukino and Vivi entered the dojo. “Usually during private lessons I teach students one on one. Today…is going to be a bit different. Two of you are learning for the first time. You’ll need much more attention to ensure you do not learn bad habits instead of the basics, but you require very different styles. I cannot be in two places at once. So, Vivi will be teaching Sydney, and Arthur will be teaching Lewis while I oversee.”

“What?!” squeaked Arthur.

“Yeah, promotion!” declared Vivi.

“Is that a good idea?” asked Arthur.

Hiro gave Arthur an encouraging smile. “You are getting better. You should be all right on your own, at least in a controlled situation.” He then pointed at Lewis. “You’re actually very tricky.”

Lewis blinked. “I am?”

“Yes, you’re probably going to become a very large adult, which means that you won’t be physically capable of performing some of the movements required,” explained Hiro. “Contrary to popular belief, large muscles are not always better.”

Lewis couldn’t really argue since he was regularly mistaken for a high school student and already had noticeable musculature forming from lifting heavy objects at Pepper Paradiso. “So, what do I do?”

“We’ll work on conditioning your body and simple techniques, such as how to punch and block and positioning your feet in various stances,” said Hiro. “If your school has a wrestling team, I would suggest joining it. It’s the best option for larger individuals.”

Arthur was a bit relieved. He could handle a work out and some punching instructions.

Hiro turned to Sydney. “Your situation is the opposite of Lewis. You’ll likely always be small and lean with less physical strength compared to your opponents. You’ll need to learn to use your opponents’ strength against them to make up for it. As such, we’ll start you off on Judo and go from there.” If Sydney did well with Judo, they could add another couple of styles that he knew of. If Sydney didn’t do well…At least she would have some ability to defend herself from physical threats. “Vivi already knows Judo so she’ll teach you the basics.”

Vivi grinned. “Awesome! C’mon!”

Sydney grinned. “Okay.” The two scuttled to the side so the two pairs could have some room.

Hiro glanced over towards Arthur and Lewis. Arthur was showing Lewis how to switch from a front stance to a half horse stance and vice versa. Lewis was staring at his feet in confusion as he tried to copy Arthur’s movements. Hiro decided to give them a few minutes before stepping in. He glanced toward Vivi and Sydney. Vivi was having Sydney punch at her and was trying to show her how to go about redirecting a punch and how to properly make a punch at the same time. Hiro noticed something Vivi was missing.

“Sydney, don’t keep your thumb under your fingers. You’re liable to break it that way. Keep your thumb folded over your fingers.”

“Okay!” chirped Sydney as she quickly did so. “This sure feels weird.”

“You’ll get used to it,” reassured Hiro.

He watched as Arthur showed Lewis how to punch and Vivi tried to show Sydney how to go about grabbing someone. They were obviously inexperienced and had a long way to go.

Hiro really hoped they stayed out of trouble until they knew what they were doing.


	18. Hamster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur gets a pet.

Arthur had been eating his breakfast when Uncle Lance looked over his newspaper at Arthur and said, “I think it’s time for you to get a pet.”

Arthur stopped eating and blinked at Lance in surprise. “What?” He’d never asked for a pet. Arthur didn’t even think he’d expressed any interest in a pet. Did he even give off the impression of that he’d be able to take care of a pet? “Why?”

“You like your friend’s dog,” answered Uncle Lance. “And having a pet will help you become more responsible.”

Personally, Arthur thought he was already more responsible than normal for his age. He wasn’t sure how he compared to an adult. “I’m not sure I’m ready for a dog.”

“Yeah, not a good idea,” agreed Lance.

Arthur blinked. “So…” If Uncle Lance agreed Arthur wasn’t ready for a dog, then he probably wouldn’t consider a cat either. “So what then?”

“Maybe a bird or a hamster.”

Arthur blinked. “I don’t really get why people keep rodents as pets. Chickens are pretty useful, but I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about.”

Oh, did Uncle Lance’s face just twitched? It was hard to tell because of all the hair, but it sure looked like Arthur had said something that affected Lance. “We’re going to the animal shelter after school.”

Arthur felt weirdly conflicted.

=============================================================================================================================

“And then he said we’d be going to the animal shelter after school,” finished Arthur. “I’m…kind of confused. I kind of thought pets were something kids ask for, but Uncle Lance is kind of forcing this on me.”

“Why wouldn’t you want a cute, fluffy pet?” asked Sydney. “I ask Mom and Dad for a pet every year, but they always say that they don’t want to destroy the house.” She paused. “I don’t think it would be that bad…”

“I’d kind of like a pet too,” agreed Lewis. “But, well, it sounds like most animals would be pretty stressed out by living in a haunted house, and I don’t want to do that to ‘em.”

“Plus you don’t have enough room for an alpaca,” added Sydney.

Arthur blinked. “A what?”

Lewis perked up. “Oh, do you know what a llama is?” Arthur nodded. “An alpaca is a friendly, fluffier llama. My parents took Sydney and me to a farm when we were little kids, and it was so much fun!”

Sydney snickered. “We had to drag him away. He wanted to stay with the alpacas.”

“Well, I doubt Uncle Lance will be getting me an alpaca,” said Arthur.

Lewis nodded. “Yeah, you have to get them in pairs because they can die from loneliness.”

…Arthur made a note to ask if that was something that he would need to worry about with whatever he ended up with.

“So can we come with you and look at the puppies?” asked Sydney.

Arthur thought for a minute. “Maybe. You’d have to ask your parents and Uncle Lance.”

Several hours later:

“I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t as long as Mr. Kingsmen says it’s all right,” said Frigg.

Sydney Sr. nodded. “Ditto.”

Arthur stared. “Why are you wearing a skirt?” asked Arthur.

“Hey, if girls can wear pants whenever they want, then I can wear a dress whenever I want,” answered Sydney Sr.

Arthur didn’t know how to reply to that so he just accepted the sympathetic shoulder pats from Lewis and Sydney Jr.

Sydney Sr’s choice in clothing got a surprised double take from Uncle Lance but no comments. He turned to Arthur. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, could Lewis and Sydney come with us?”

Lance raised an eyebrow but shrugged. “I guess. Not much is gonna be going on though.”

“That’s okay,” said Lewis.

“I wanna see the kitties!” added Sydney.

“Not cats this time,” said Lance. “The biggest thing he’s getting is a guinea pig.”

“…Those are cute too,” Sydney decided.

And they all piled into Lance’s truck and started off. It was a bit of a tight fit, but the kids (and Lance but no one was going to say that out loud) were small enough to make that work.

They did not end up at a pet store. This was simply because Lance didn’t want any of the larger animals deciding they wanted to go home with Arthur…or Arthur deciding he wanted a larger animal. The latter didn’t seem likely, but Lance didn’t think he’d be able to say no.

Instead, they wound up at a normal looking house. The kids were visibly confused. “It’s a private rescue,” explained Lance. One that specialized in rodents in particular. If Arthur didn’t see anything he liked, Lance had the address of a bird rescue to try next.

“Do we just go in?” asked Sydney.

“They’re expecting us, but knock first.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Sydney was the one who ran up to the door and knocked at it. It was opened by a plump, late-middle aged woman. “Yes?”

“Hi! I’m Sydney! My friend Arthur’s here to get a new fluffy friend!”

By that time the guys had caught up to her. The woman smiled. “Oh, then you must be Mr. Kingsman.”

Lance nodded. “Yup. This is Arthur.” Arthur waved. “And his other friend, Lewis.”

Lewis smiled. “Hello, Miss.”

She smiled back. “Hello to you too.” She moved aside so they could enter the house.

The first thing they noticed was a pen full of sawdust and guinea pigs. There were also tubes for hamsters to run through. Sydney let out a squeal and ran over to the guinea pigs, startling a few of them. “Piggies!” Lewis and Arthur followed more calmly.

“They are adorable,” agreed the woman. “But they’re extremely social so you’d have to adopt at least two.”

Lewis grinned. “Like alpacas.”

“Right.”

“I probably should start with only one pet,” commented Arthur. So no guinea pigs then. “So, I guess we look around a bit…”

There were some rabbits, some gerbils, a couple of chinchillas, several hamsters, a squirrel, and a sugar glider.

“Where’d the squirrel came from?” asked Sydney.

“Oh, an older man rescued her as a baby and raised her. He died not too long ago, and she doesn’t know how to take care of herself in the wild,” she explained.

“…Can I feed her acorns?”

“She prefers pinecones.”

Arthur just stared at all the animals that had were in enclosures or wandering around. So…how was he supposed to do this? Did he just choose one? He experimentally poked a gerbil that was chewing on a pellet.

The gerbil didn’t react. Arthur had to admit it was kind of boring. He should probably stick to a pet that he had some interest in.

…Arthur had no idea how to do this. He thought about the interactions between Vivi and Ben. He should look for something like that? But these were hamsters. Could they even form the same type of bond with a human as a dog?

Arthur felt something hit his foot. He looked down and saw a hamster ball containing a tiny hamster. He picked up the ball. “Is this a baby?”

She shook her head. “It’s a dwarf hamster. They’re smaller than the other breeds.”

Lewis snickered and playfully elbowed Sydney. “That sounds familiar.” Sydney’s response was to jump on him. The woman ignored the rough housing in favor of showing Arthur how to open the hamster ball.

Arthur studied the hamster as it scurried around his cupped hands. He quickly put it on the table, where it scurried about. When he put his hand on the table, the little hamster started scurrying back and forth over it.

“Aw…she likes you,” said the woman.

Arthur blinked. “Really?” He pet the top of the hamster’s head. She nuzzled into his hand. “I think…you’re right.”

And that was how Arthur found himself with a hamster in a cage with several pet supplies.

“Cute…” cooed Lewis.

“What ‘cha gonna call her?” asked Sydney.

“Um…” Arthur watched the tiny hamster running on her wheel. It was a pretty small cage. He should use his saved up allowance to get her a hamster ball and some tubing. “My family seems to have a habit of using Arthurian names…” He wasn’t sure he wanted to name his pet after one of the people he’d left behind. “I’m not sure I want to use that sort of name.”

“What about Shakespeare?” asked Sydney.

“I don’t know any girl names from that except for Juliet,” said Arthur. Not the best option.

“What about Puck?” suggested Lewis.

“What does hockey have to do with it?” asked Arthur.

“No, it’s a character from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’,” explained Lewis.

“But she’s the size of a hockey puck,” added Sydney. “So she is sort of like one.”

“Definitely shouldn’t try using her like one though,” said Lewis.

Sydney winced. “Yeah, that would be awful.”

Arthur shuddered at the mental image. “No, no, no pucks.”

“Maybe Cadence?” suggested Sydney. “I have no idea if that’s Camelot or Shakespeare or what, but it sounds fancy.”

“Fancy counts I guess,” said Arthur. “Sure, let’s go with that.” He stuck a few fingers into the cage. “What do you think?” Cadence the hamster sniffed at his fingers for a moment before going back to running on her wheel. “Cadence it is.”

They watched Cadence for a few more moments.

“So, how are we going to introduce Cadence to Vivi and Ben?” asked Sydney.

“…Do dogs eat rodents or is that just cats?” asked Arthur.

“They have sharp teeth,” admitted Lewis. “So I guess they might.”

“Ben’s pretty tame though,” said Sydney. “Have you ever seen him act threatening at all? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him bare his teeth or growl.”

Ben was pretty well behaved. Maybe it would be okay to introduce him and Vivi to a small dwarf hamster.

=============================================================================================================================

Vivi and Ben stared at the small hamster currently running around the dojo in a hamster ball. “She’s adorable,” said Vivi.

“Yeah, it kind of makes me want one,” agreed Lewis. “I think my parents would want to wait until Belle’s a bit older though.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be responsible enough to take care of another living being,” said Sydney.

“Does that include children?” asked Arthur.

Sydney paused. “That is a good question.” Her eyes averted, and she giggled. “Heh, Ben.”

Ben was batting at Cadence’s hamster ball. “Is that okay?” asked Arthur.

“Um…probably. Ben sometimes chases squirrels, but this doesn’t look like that,” said Vivi. Ben decided to lay down with the ball and Cadence between his front paws. “See? He’s making himself smaller so he looks less intimidating to Cadence.”

“Does Ben have any animal friends?” asked Lewis.

Vivi frowned. “Actually, for some reason he seems to scare most other dogs. No idea why.”

Ben winced because he knew why other dogs didn’t like him. Along with most animals. Including Cadence, who seemed rather nervous about her current position. He wasn’t exactly sure how to calm her down though. Hamsters were…simple.

“I think he’s scaring her,” said Arthur. He immediately walked over, picked up the ball, and took a few steps away from Ben. “Hold on a sec.” He opened the ball and let Cadence tumble into his jacket pocket. She poked her head and front paws out.

“That’s so cute!” gushed Vivi even as she moved to comfort Ben. “How’d you teach her to do that?”

“I felt kind of guilty I couldn’t spend as much time with her, and I thought if holding her was good enough…” Arthur trailed off. “I’m not sure how to keep her from making a mess.”

“Hamster diapers!” proclaimed Sydney.

“I’m not sure that’s a thing,” said Lewis.

Arthur’s head was bowed in thought. “But maybe I could make something like that…”

“How would that work?” asked Lewis.

“Well, it would need an impermeable outer layer and some sort of absorbent layer. But Cadence wouldn’t wear it unless it was comfortable so it would need some cloth. Or maybe I could make it like a pocket liner…” muttered Arthur.

“Wow, you’re serious about that,” said Vivi.

Arthur blinked. “Er…Should I not be?”

“I like the idea,” said Lewis. “You can bring your cute pets with you everywhere without getting your shirts dirty.”

Sydney nodded. “There’s diapers for birds!” Everyone gave her an odd look. “What? I saw it on TV once.”

“Sydney…”

“It wasn’t a cartoon.”

“Ah. Nevermind then.”

Arthur, Vivi, and Mystery felt like they were missing something.


	19. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang has their first Halloween together and decide to coordinate costumes.

Arthur had managed to put together something that acted like a diaper but which fitted into his pocket instead of around the hamster. “It takes a little bit to put them together though…”

Cadence seemed happy with the pocket diaper considering how much time she was spending in Arthur’s shirt and coat pockets.

“I wonder if you could incorporate it into your Halloween costume,” mused Vivi.

“Uh…What’s Halloween?” asked Arthur.

Sydney and Lewis gave Arthur startled looks. “You don’t know what Halloween is?!”

Arthur panicked a bit as he realized this was something everyone was supposed to know about. “My parents were super religious,” he said quickly. Sydney and Lewis seemed to accept it.

“Halloween evolved from the Celtic celebration of Samhain,” explained Vivi. “It was the ending of the year at sun down, but the new year didn’t start until the sun rose. Being outside of time as it were meant that ghosts and the like had an easier time manifesting. It probably makes magic easier and stronger too. At some point, people started wearing scary outfits to try and blend in or scare away the spirits. That ritual eventually became putting on costumes for fun and, in the case of kids, going around to houses and asking for treats.”

The other kids were staring at her in surprise at the info dump, while Arthur was wondering if this meant Halloween was technically a pagan holiday.

“Actually, the Catholic church took a lot of pagan holidays and incorporated them into their religion. Christmas takes place in December because that’s when a big festival called Saturnalia took place in the Roman empire. Evidence suggests that Jesus was actually born in Spring,” continued Vivi as if she’d predicted Arthur’s thoughts.

The more Arthur learned the more he wondered if the adults in his early life knew what they were doing.

“Anyway…My dad makes cosplay as a side job so if you want he can make you guys costumes too,” said Sydney.

Lewis nodded. “He always makes costumes for us.”

Vivi perked up. “Really?”

Sydney nodded. “But nothing super complicated, okay? He’s gotta budget.”

“What’s cosplay?” asked Arthur.

“Costume play,” explained Lewis. “People dress up like characters from anime or videogames that they love. Some of the outfits are really complicated or accurate.”

“We usually do a theme for Halloween,” continued Sydney.

“We did Sailor Moon for a couple of years,” said Lewis.

“Another time we were Ed and Al Elric,” said Sydney. “I’m not sure what we could do with four people.”

“Power Rangers?” suggested Vivi.

“There’s usually five of ‘em though,” said Sydney.

“Is that a big deal?” asked Arthur.

“Not really,” said Lewis. “It would just seem a little weird to be short a ranger.”

“So, we need a group of four people,” muttered Sydney. “All I can think of are Transformers, but that might be too complicated.”

“All I can think of is the Scooby Doo gang,” said Vivi.

Silence. The kids turned to stare at Ben. “Would Ben let us dye his fur?” asked Lewis.

“I have no idea,” admitted Vivi. “Would the dye be safe?”

“I have no idea,” repeated Sydney. “Dad knows a bit about hair dye…”

“I think you could get away with leaving him white and black,” said Arthur.

“So, who would be who?” asked Lewis.

Vivi and Sydney promptly pointed at Lewis. “Fred.” Then they pointed towards Arthur. “Shaggy.”

“You do have the muscle tone going on,” agreed Arthur.

And Lewis blushed because he was somehow the biggest one there despite (probably) being the youngest. “W-well, who’s gonna be Velma and Daphne?”

Sydney and Vivi exchanged looks. That was…less obvious. Both wore glasses, had relatively short statures, and were fairly tomboyish.

“You’re shorter,” said Vivi.

Sydney pouted. “Yeah, I am. Guess that makes me Velma…What kind of name is Velma?”

“I dunno.”

“Will we need a van?”

“None of us can drive,” pointed out Arthur.

“Maybe a toy or something,” suggested Lewis.

“Oh, yeah, that makes more sense,” admitted Arthur.

The four kids (and dog and hamster) just lay there for several minutes. It hadn’t been a particularly odd conversation, but something in the air seemed heavy, as if something life changing had just happened.

Then Ben started licking Arthur’s face, ending the moment. Arthur let out a laugh. “H-hey! Stop! Stop!”

Vivi grinned. “You’re saying ‘stop’, but you’re laughing.” Ben decided to switch targets and started licking Vivi instead. She giggled. “Ben!”

“We should teach him how to talk!” Ben turned his attention to Sydney. “Hey! Ew! Your breath smells like fish! Why does it smell like fish? You’re not a cat!”

“Ben’ll eat anything if you give him the chance,” said Vivi.

Lewis pulled a bag of chips out from somewhere and grinned. “Like this?” He popped the bag open. He was immediately tackled by the dog. “Ack!” Ben quickly stuck his head in the bag and quickly snapped up the contents before transferring his ministrations to Lewis. “Oh yuck! Your breath really does smell like fish!”

“Hold him for me,” said Vivi. “I’ll brush his teeth!”

The whole thing devolved into a wrestling match. No teeth were cleaned. Everyone needed a bath afterwards.

=============================================================================================================================

Sydney had been right about the Scooby Doo costumes being fairly simple to make. She hadn’t stopped to think about make-up and hairstyling though.

“Are you almost done?” asked Sydney Jr.

“Almost…Just one more pin…and done!” Sydney Sr stepped back to admire how Sydney looked with the brown bob wig in addition to the rest of her costume. “The shape of the glasses aren’t the same, but I don’t think anyone will care.”

Sydney Jr. twirled and did a hop-skip over to Vivi, who was messing with her noticeably longer orange wig. “How ‘bout you?”

“I prefer shorter hair. Hair this long just…gets in the way,” said Vivi as she glared distastefully at a lock of orange hair.

Sydney nodded. “I hear ya. I just want it long enough to ponytail it.” She glanced at the boys. “How ‘bout you two?”

Unlike the girls, the boys weren’t wearing wigs. They’d just had their hair styled into a close approximation of their chosen characters. Sydney Sr claimed this was because the wigs would look too bulky unless the boys were willing to shave their hair. They weren’t.

Arthur fingered his hair. “This doesn’t feel too different from usual besides the colors.” He was wearing green and red. He was coming to prefer bright colors like orange and yellow.

Lewis was happily studying his reflection. “I kind of like this hairstyle.” He turned to Sydney Sr. “Will you teach me how to do this?”

Sydney Sr gave him a grin. “Sure! I’ll get you some decent hair mousse. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go change into my costume.” On his way out, he ran into Hiro. “So, how’d Ben like the vegetable dye?”

“He tolerated it.” That was a lie. Ben had taken one look at the dye, snorted, and changed his fur color to the proper brown color.

“I’m leaving you alone with Noelle and the kids for a bit. Behave now.” And Sydney Sr hurried down the hallway.

Hiro raised an eyebrow. The Sydneys were pretty darn odd. Still, they got along with the rest of the family and friends, and Hiro did like them…in reasonable amounts.

He walked Ben over to the kids, who all started petting him. “Wow, this dye is really realistic,” said Lewis.

Sydney nodded. “My dad knows what he’s doing.”

“How you holding up boy?” asked Vivi. Ben licked her in response. “Good to know.”

“Oh, you kids look so cute like that,” said Noelle. “Let me get my camera!”

Hiro let the kids pose for the camera for several moments before clearing his throat. “Now, I don’t know how much you know about the holiday, but it is easier to come into contact with the supernatural starting tonight and lasting until November 2. It’s most intense on Halloween though. So, Mr. Scoville and I will be escorting you tonight. I have tools prepared to chase off anything that may take an untoward interest in your group, and you will all be spending the night here. Mr. Scoville also has some sort of repelling ability, so I’d imagine this is one of the safest places in the county.”

Arthur let out a sigh of relief. “That’s a relief.”

“Had some bad experiences?” asked Vivi.

Arthur nodded. “I just knew they were at the end of October. I didn’t know about the Halloween thing. Why does it get so much worse anyway?”

“That’s not something with a simple answer,” said Hiro. “Something makes…magic for lack of a better word more potent during these days, which makes it easier for people to see ghosts and for ghosts, along with other normally invisible entities, to become visible to people. It’s a good time for them to be heard if there’s something they want to get across to the mundane, living population.” Hiro glowered. “Although I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a tradition among the supernatural to have fun and try to scare humans. It’s what people are expecting to happen after all.”

Ben gave a barely noticeable shrug. Hiro wasn’t wrong, but it was more of a ‘teenagers messing around and doing things their parents won’t necessarily approve of’ sort of thing.

Arthur crossed his arms. “Well, I don’t like it, whatever it is…”

Vivi turned to Sydney and Lewis. “Have you guys ever noticed anything weird around this time of year?”

“I haven’t ever noticed anything,” said Sydney. “Lewis says there are ghosts all over the place though.”

Lewis nodded. “Yeah, some are pretty scary. It’s a lot more active in the cemetery and house. Sydney always spends the night since some of them look pretty scary.” Lewis made a face as something suddenly occurred to him. “Uh, this is the first Halloween we haven’t slept over at my house. Do you think Mom and Dad and Belle will be okay?”

“I put some ofudas up at your house that should keep away most dangerous entities,” reassured Hiro. “Honestly, you probably attract half of the activity so just spending time away from them will put a stop to a portion of the paranormal activity.”

“Huh, really? I had no idea,” said Lewis.

“Oh, yes, once ghosts figure out someone can see them word spreads very quickly.”

“Wait. I can’t see ghosts, so why do they keep following me around?” asked Arthur.

Hiro shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure why, but you…leak energy. Being around you is like it being Halloween all the time,” said Hiro. “You also have an aura that the supernatural find pleasing, like how kids will gravitate to a kitchen where cookies have just been cooked.”

“I could go for some cookies,” said Vivi.

“You’re going to be getting plenty of candy tonight,” said Noelle. “You can see about having cookies after you finish off the candy.”

Vivi grinned. “Challenge accepted.”

“No,” said Hiro.

“Aw…but-”

“No, you remember what happened last time,” said Hiro.

“Ooh, what happened last time?” asked Sydney.

“When she was five she ate all of her Halloween candy at once and didn’t sleep for three days,” explained Hiro. “She tried to feed Ben chocolate. Dogs can’t eat chocolate.”

Ben huffed because he could eat chocolate, thank you very much. Stupid need to hold up the illusion all the time. He couldn’t wait until Vivi was mature enough to know what he really was so he could relax at home. Not to mention it would be easier to snatch some of whatever that was Noelle was cooking.

Lewis must have noticed how Ben was staring longingly towards the kitchen because he grabbed a treat out of his pocket. “Would you like a Scooby Snack?”

Eh, it’ll do. Ben snapped it up and gave Lewis a lick of thanks.

“What’s taking your dad so long?” asked Vivi. “He said he was going to be a zombie. It can’t take that long to put on some torn clothing and fake blood.”

Sydney grinned. “Dad put in way more effort than that. There’s latex and make-up and contact lenses…”

“Mr. Scoville’s costumes are really complicated,” agreed Lewis.

Any further conversation was interrupted by a groaning sound. Everyone turned to see…a zombie. It was covered in bite marks, half rotten, had clouded over eyes, and dirty, torn clothing. It was completely unrecognizable as Sydney Sr.

“…Okay, that is a convincing zombie costume,” admitted Vivi.

“Thank you,” said Sydney Sr, briefly breaking character before going back to groaning.

“You look like a dead body!” said Arthur. “Which I guess is the point, but it’s creepy.”

Sydney Scoville groaned again. He sure was taking the zombie thing seriously.

“So…” Sydney Jr held up her treat bag. “Can we go trick-or-treating now?”

“Unnngh!”

“Taking that as a yes!”

Thankfully, the other adults decided to agree with the translation so the kids were able to head out. “There are a lot of costumes,” commented Arthur.

Vivi nodded. “Yep, it’s a popular holiday.”

“What a cute baby!” cooed Lewis at a young couple and their baby, all of them dressed like dinosaurs.

“Thank you!”

“But most of them seem to be younger than us,” continued Arthur.

“That guy’s older than us,” pointing at a guy dressed like a robot.

“People just prefer to go to parties once they get older. I don’t know why. They’re sooo boring,” complained Vivi. “Where’s the darkness? Where’s the creepy shadows? Where’s the questioning of if there’s a ghost around the corner or if that’s a really good werewolf costume or some werewolf decided to go to the store to pick up milk?”

“There are some ghosts following us,” commented Lewis.

Arthur tensed up. “Why?”

Lewis glanced towards the ghosts. “Are you sure he’s not a zombie? He looks pretty dead.”

“It’s Halloween. It’s obviously a very good costume.”

“He smells like a zombie though.”

“We’re ghosts! We can’t smell!”

“Oh yeah.”

“Besides, wasn’t there a Scooby-Doo movie with zombies?”

“Since when are there Scooby-Doo movies?”

“Mr. Scoville’s costume is really convincing,” said Lewis.

“Unngh!”

“Are zombies real?” asked Sydney.

“Yes,” said Hiro. “Under very specific circumstances. It takes one of a few specific rituals. It’s very dangerous and is not something that should ever be done unless you have prior permission from the subject of interest. Even then, it’s not recommended because of the possible side effects.” He paused. “Actually, this is a very complicated subject. Let’s talk about it when we have more time.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it at all,” muttered Arthur as they walked up to a house.

They took a moment to ring the doorbell, ask for treats, and thank the woman handing out the treats. Ben tried to beg for treats. This wasn’t allowed, and the group went on their way.

“Do ghost hunters have a lot of work on Halloween?” asked Sydney.

“Paranormal investigators,” corrected Hiro. “While we do look for ghosts, calling us ‘hunters’ suggests we intend to hurt ghosts in some way. That’s a last resort in cases where the ghosts in question seek to harm the living and cannot be convinced otherwise. And whether an investigator works on Halloween or not varies. Most will take the time off because they might get false positives. Some like working on Halloween though since they might get results they wouldn’t usually come by.”

“That doesn’t sound very professional,” muttered Arthur.

“I agree,” said Hiro. “Personally, I feel that circumstances that modify magical strengths can be dangerous, even if it’s something to your advantage.”

“Wouldn’t that make things easier?” asked Sydney.

“Yes, which might be good in an emergency, but it can make you under or overestimate a situation.”

“How is overestimating bad?” questioned Arthur.

Hiro took a minute to think about how to describe what he was thinking. “It’s like using a hand grenade to make a hole when a drill will suffice.”

Vivi, Lewis, both Sydneys, and even Arthur laughed. Hiro had to admit it wasn’t the best analogy, but it’s what he came up with on short notice.

“It’s like you thought the corn was sweet so you put in the wrong amount of salt,” said Lewis.

“That’s a better analogy,” admitted Hiro. “Anyway, once you outgrow trick-or-treating, you should find some way to spend Halloween that doesn’t involve the supernatural. Maybe go to a party or stay home and watch movies.”

“Watching movies would be nice,” said Arthur.

“Ooh! We could watch the Nightmare Before Christmas again!” said Vivi.

“You will not. It’s a school night,” said Hiro. “As it is the only reason you’re spending the night together is for safety’s sake.” He looked to Sydney Sr. “I’m trusting you and Mrs. Scoville to get the children to sleep and awake on time.”

“Nggggh!”

“That means yes,” said Sydney Jr.

“I still wish we could spend the night at Lewis’ house,” said Vivi. “There’s a lot more space, and it seems more fitting to spend Halloween in a haunted house.”

“Belle sometimes cries at night. She might wake you up,” said Lewis.

“Or we might wake her up,” countered Arthur.

“I don’t wanna wake Baby Belle up!” agreed Sydney Jr. “She’s cute when she’s sleeping.”

The subject of conversation rapidly changed to siblings and sleepovers. Hiro watched them absentmindedly before feeling something brush against his side.

It was just Ben, who gave him a smile unseen by anyone else. Hiro found himself smiling back. It was nice…seeing the children all so happy like this.

It would be nice if it would last forever.


End file.
